Thursday, May 14, 2015

Republicans and Conservatives can’t handle the implications about what they caused by attacking Iraq

The GOP's Iraq War Amnesia
If Republicans want to blame America’s foreign-policy woes on Obama, they need a 2016 candidate untainted by the disastrous hawkishness of the past.



JPETER BEINART 6:13 AM ET ATLANTIC

The most interesting thing about Jeb Bush’s statement that, even knowing Saddam Hussein had no chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, he’d still have supported the Iraq War, isn’t the beating he’s taking from liberals and the punditocracy. It’s the beating he’s taking from conservatives. The Washington Post compiled some of the right-wing outrage. The appalled include The Washington Examiner’s Byron York, who wrote that, “If Jeb Bush sticks to his position—that he would still authorize war knowing what we know today—it will represent a step backward for the Republican Party.” And talk show host Laura Ingraham, who fumed that, “You can’t still think that going into Iraq, now, as a sane human being, was the right thing to do.”
Substantively, York and Ingraham are right. It is insane to claim the Bush administration was correct to spend trillions of dollars, kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, lose thousands of American lives, damage America’s reputation and seriously undermine the war in Afghanistan, all to conquer a country with no significant military arsenal. In fact, invading Iraq would have been a mistake even if Saddam had possessed chemical and biological stockpiles and a nascent nuclear program, none of which would have represented a threat significant enough to justify the war’s hideous cost.

But what makes the right’s attack on Jeb intriguing is that his position isn’t novel. Most of the war’s key architects have said the same thing: that even with the benefit of hindsight, the war was a good idea. George W. Bush declared that, “we’re much safer without Saddam. And I would argue that the people of Iraq have a better shot at living in a peaceful—a peaceful state.” According to Dick Cheney, invading Iraq “was the right thing to do, and if we had to do it again, we would do exactly the same thing.” Condoleezza Rice told CNN’s Piers Morgan in 2011 that, “I don’t regret that we went to war against him, because we could be sitting here today, Piers, having a discussion about the race for nuclear weapons between Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and Ahmadinejad’s Iran.”

So why are conservatives furious at Jeb? Because they realize that to win in 2016, they must nominate a candidate who can publicly keep his distance from Iraq. They must be the party of foreign-policy amnesia.
With the economy strengthening and public perceptions of Obamacare improving, Republican candidates have made foreign affairs central to their 2016 sales pitch. With the partial exception of Rand Paul, they all depict a world spiraling into chaos and savagery because the United States refuses to exercise its power. Ask them why Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya face civil war, why ISIS is beheading people, why the Saudi king won’t visit Washington and why Iran is wielding power across the Middle East and they’ll say it’s because the Obama administration has appeased America’s enemies and betrayed its friends. The implication, unstated but crucial, is that everything was peachy before 2009.

The more Americans think about the invasion of Iraq—and the way today’s GOP remains implicated in it—the more that narrative unravels. After all, it was the overthrow of Saddam, more than any other single action, which created the vacuum in Iraq that Iran and ISIS now fill. It was the invasion of Iraq that destroyed whatever hope America might have had of stabilizing Afghanistan. And it was the overthrow of Saddam that shifted the balance of power toward Tehran and away from Riyadh.

Obviously, events since Bush left office play a role too. If the overthrow of Saddam destabilized Iraq, the Arab Spring has destabilized much of the region. And in some ways, the Obama administration’s response to it has made things worse. In retrospect, the invasion of Libya looks like a terrible mistake. And it’s conceivable, though hardly certain, that had the Obama administration armed nationalist anti-Assad rebels early on, and forced the Iraqi government to accept a significant U.S.-troop presence after 2011, ISIS might not have gained the territory it enjoys today.

But even if you judge Obama’s Middle East policies harshly, it’s hard to see Republicans as the remedy once you realize that virtually the entire GOP foreign-policy class cheered an invasion that makes Obama’s mistakes look trivial by comparison. For the Republican foreign-policy argument to work today, voters must blame America’s Middle East problems largely on Obama, and see in his potential GOP successor the promise of a fresh start. That’s easier for Marco Rubio or Scott Walker, who can distance themselves from the Bush administration and the Iraq War. It’s harder for Jeb. And the right’s fury at his Iraq answer stems, in part, from the fear that if he wins the nomination, Republicans won’t be able to pretend that America’s overseas problems began in 2009.  


Republicans want the late-Obama years to be the political equivalent of the Carter era, when America suffered foreign-policy humiliations that helped Ronald Reagan win the presidency promising to restore American honor and American might. In reality, the tribulations of the Carter years owed a lot to the aftershocks of Vietnam, which damaged America’s global image, distorted its economy, and harmed national morale. But Reagan—who had spent most of the war as governor of California—did not have to answer for Vietnam. That’s what Republicans want again today: a hawk untainted by the disastrous hawkishness of the past, a candidate who accepts the axioms that underpinned the Iraq War without having to answer for it. Jeb Bush, they increasingly realize, isn’t it.

121 comments:

  1. Question to conservatives who are always cackling about defecits and government spending:

    How are you going to pay for the Iraq war?

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    1. .

      The same way both parties use to pay for the things they want, write a check (well, better make that write out an IOU)

      .

      Delete
  2. WASHINGTON -- When Congress voted to authorize the Iraq War in October 2002, only seven Republicans voted against it -- and they took heat for bucking their party. Looking back now, on the 10-year anniversary of the invasion, many of those Republicans maintained they were right all along and fear that the war wasn't worth the costs, both financially and in human lives.

    In interviews with The Huffington Post, five of those seven Republicans explained why they broke ranks and opposed the war resolution, which authorized President George W. Bush to "use any means necessary" against Iraq. Two of those Republicans -- Rep. John Duncan (Tenn.) and former Rep. John Hostettler (Ind.) -- did not respond to interview requests.

    "To me, it was about growing up in the Vietnam era and not wanting to go through that again," said Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who, in 2002, was the only GOP senator to vote against invading Iraq. "I remember the difficulty the soldiers had coming back here after Vietnam. They had the same issues: PTSD, re-immersion, alcoholism. You have to be prepared to take all that on."

    Chafee also didn't believe CIA officials who showed him photos of metal tubes in Iraq and said they were being used to make weapons of mass destruction. He recalled thinking those tubes could have been purchased at a local hardware store and used for a multitude of things.

    "More than anything, it was the body language of the CIA that told me it wasn't true," he said.

    "There was no threat to our national security, and also the arguments that they were using [for] why we had to go in, I didn't believe them," said former Rep. Ron Paul (Texas), one of the six House Republicans who opposed the war. "I could see where it was going to cost us a lot of money, and I kept saying this even before -- it's going to cost us a lot of money, a lot of lives. It's going to go on a long time."

    Former Rep. Connie Morella (Md.) said she couldn't separate war from being the mother of nine.

    "I had to look at it as a parent, but also look at the fact that we're talking about sending young people into conflict," Morella said. "There was also the idea that we had not gone through checking with the UN and getting support of allies. We were doing this unilaterally.

    "That was the 88-ton gorilla or whatever they say," Morella added. "I think it was valid then, and I think it's valid now."

    "I just felt it was the wrong war at the wrong time," said former Rep. Amory Houghton (N.Y.), who said he never believed that Iraqi leaders were building weapons of mass destruction.

    "The information I'd gotten on weapons of mass destruction made me think they were not there," Houghton said. Asked how he came to that conclusion when so many others didn't, Houghton replied, "Everybody had the same information I had. It's all about how you interpret it, isn't it?"

    Of course, it was the allegations of weapons of mass destruction that sparked the Iraq invasion in the first place -- and that turned out to be false. In the meantime, Bush plotted a war that was supposed to require few troops and even less time. Instead, it dragged on for nine years, cost the United States at least $800 billion and resulted in nearly 4,500 U.S. soldiers being killed. That doesn’t include the more than 32,000 wounded Americans and the horrific estimates of Iraqi civilian fatalities, which range from 100,000 to 600,000.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/20/gop-iraq-war_n_2910618.html

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    1. .

      At that time, it took common sense and guts for a US politician to oppose the war.

      .

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  3. Repeat:

    Bush plotted a war that was supposed to require few troops and even less time. Instead, it dragged on for nine years, cost the United States at least $800 billion and resulted in nearly 4,500 U.S. soldiers being killed. That doesn’t include the more than 32,000 wounded Americans and the horrific estimates of Iraqi civilian fatalities, which range from 100,000 to 600,000.

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  4. "I just think that it was a disaster. It was wrong, and we should have prevented it,” Ron Paul said. "Yeah, we got rid of a dictator. It makes no sense. It demonstrates the stupidity of our foreign policy. What it does, it says at one time we can be an ally of Saddam Hussein, but the next week we can turn around and say he's our worst enemy."

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  5. It is pointless to say which political party is worse. They are both owned by the Israeli-firsters.

    The Neocon agenda was always an Israeli first agenda. Traditional US foreign policy in the Middle East was about maintaining stability and keeping the oil flowing. The Israeli firsters had a different agenda. They wanted instability in the region to strengthen Israel. The Israeli- firsters wanted the US to do their dirty work. The Israeli goal has not changed. There is one more war that the Israeli-firsters want the US to fight and that is with Iran.

    The Israeli occupation of the US political establishment is a thorough success. Neither party has the courage to show them the door. We have no idea as to the ultimate extent of the damage done to the US, but it was all done by US politicians, sent to Washington to serve American interests and not the interests of a European colony , a religious cult of seven million.

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    1. .

      You can say whatever you like about Israel or Israeli-firsters, but Iraq was all on Bush. 100%.

      .

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    2. Deuce ☂Thu May 14, 12:55:00 AM EDT
      It is pointless to say which political party is worse. They are both owned by the Israeli-firsters.


      Deuce shows his jew hatred day after day...

      Using slogans and divisive language...

      But don't call Deuce a Jew hater he gets quite pissy...

      Delete
    3. Israeli firsters, including most of the Republicans dutifully make an annual march to AIPAC and rise publicly to announce fealty to Israel. That about says it all.

      Delete
  6. A new poll by Pew Research finds that the number of Americans who declare that they are not affiliated with any religion has been increasing dramatically in recent years.

    This trend toward increased unbelief among Americans is just what I predicted in my 2008 article, “The New Age of Reason: Is the Fourth Great Awakening Finally Coming to a Close?” In the article I explained:

    American society periodically weathers decades-long storms of moral renovation set off by thunderclaps of Christian evangelism. Old spiritual and moral doctrines get reinterpreted in a new light, producing far-ranging, and not always welcome, political change. Scholars commonly refer to these tumultuous periods as “Great Awakenings.”

    I argued that the Fourth Great Awakening had started up in the 1970s with the politicization and rise of the religious right. I then suggested that that wave of religious fervor was cresting and that we could look forward to a new era of greater tolerance. I was right.

    As the New York Times reports today:

    Seventy-one percent of American adults were Christian in 2014, the lowest estimate from any sizable survey to date, and a decline of 5 million adults and 8 percentage points since a similar Pew survey in 2007.

    The Christian share of the population has been declining for decades, but the pace rivals or even exceeds that of the country’s most significant demographic trends, like the growing Hispanic population. It is not confined to the coasts, the cities, the young or the other liberal and more secular groups where one might expect it, either. ...

    Over all, the religiously unaffiliated number 56 million and represent 23 percent of adults, up from 36 million and 16 percent in 2007, Pew estimates. Nearly half of the growth was from atheists and agnostics, whose tallies nearly doubled to 7 percent of adults. The remainder of the unaffiliated, those who describe themselves as having “no particular religion,” were less likely to say that religion was an important part of their lives than eight years ago.

    The ranks of the unaffiliated have been bolstered by former Christians. Nearly a quarter of people who were raised as Christian have left the group, and ex-Christians now represent 19 percent of adults.

    {...}

    ReplyDelete
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    1. {...}
      As evidence that the Fourth Awakening was receding, I cited data indicating that Americans were rapidly becoming more tolerant of gays and lesbians, were increasingly against the Drug War, and much less hostile toward pornography, among other trends. All of which have become stronger since my article.

      I concluded:

      In 1908 Clarence Darrow told the Personal Liberty League, “The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men’s business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs.” That has been true for a long time now, but we may finally be heading toward a better world—one where Americans are increasingly willing to live and let live.

      Hooray for the end of the Fourth Great Awakening!

      Disclosure: I have been an out-atheist since I was a young teenager.

      http://reason.com/blog/2015/05/13/fewer-christians-all-the-time-in-the-uni

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    2. .

      Yea, the country is in great shape.

      .

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  7. .

    Bush has tried to walk back his words on Iraq but when all you can musters is 'well, admittedly, mistakes were made' you might as well forget about it.

    .

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  8. Now, now, now, you two historical revisionists.

    You know full well both Hillary - Mrs Democratic Party - and Kerry - Mr Democratic Party - both voted for the Iraq War.

    As did dozens of other Democrats.

    And you also know that Bush had the lid on, that there were three years of mostly peace, until idiots elected our Boy Wonder, Napoleon on the Potomac, who immediately too all the troops out, against the advice of the military, and the whole place went to absolute shit.

    I know you don't have much use for 'truth in advertising' Quirk, truth in lending so to speak, but you both are seriously misremembering things here.

    I am not so certain that Deuce himself wasn't for the adventure, back in the day.

    These days he has said we must do something about ISIS, but I'm still at a loss at to what exactly he is proposing.

    Quirk has said he'd do about as Obama is doing.

    Which ain't much, and that is for sure.

    Obama is the Direct Cause of all this chaos in the middle east, starting with his totally idiotic "Cairo Speech".

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  9. I suggest it is Quirk and Deuce that are displaying their amnesia tonight.

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  10. Replies
    1. There never should have been any troops in Iraq to take out.

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    2. .

      In 2007-2008, there were only about 6900 al Qaeda in Iraq battling 150,000 US troops, as many contractors, and the nascent Iraqi army to a standstill until the agreement to pull out US troops by date certain was forced upon Bush at which point groups like al Sadr's army backed off, the sectarian forces in Baghdad were physically separated, and the Anbar chiefs were paid to fight back. Just as Bush and the neocons actually tried to claim that the US somehow 'won' the war, now they and their 'useful idiots' in the GOP try to argue that the ISIS they created would never have advanced in IRAQ if only Obama had forced a sovereign nation, Iraq, to accept a residual US force there after 2011.

      It's just one more excuse to cover their abject failure. It is one more example of their idiocy. Rather than admit the snafu they created and the horrendous results, like Monty Python's black knight they double down and ask for more. Buffoons. Clowns.
      Laughable if their bullshit didn't ruin or destroy so many lives.

      Had the troops stayed, we would now be involved in another war in the ME with significant US ground troops involved. No doubt it would different than it is now. It would be worse. We would have American ground troops being killed.

      The neocons and their minions argue there would be no problems now in Iraq. The presence of US troops would have put pressure on al Maliki to change his attitude, he would have welcomed the Sunni and Kurds as his brothers, we would now have a fully representative government there, there would have been nothing and no one for ISIS to exploit in Iraq. Morons. How is that working out in Afghanistan where we still have troops and a residual force will remain?

      After ISIS established its base in Syria, history tells us what would have happened in Iraq had US troops remained. They would have eventually been attacked by ISIS using asymmetrical tactics, roadside bombs, suicide bombers, snipers, small scale attacks, etc. As soon as US troops started dying, they would have been reinforced, more troops and the same air support we have right now. Drip. Drip. Drip. They would have come up with some snappy name for the operation, FUBAR II or some such. Another quagmire that the US would spend a decade trying to work its way out of.

      Eventually some military genius might suggest we do a little carpet bombing in the cities. When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

      The neocon dream has been proven to be a nightmare; yet, as they try to resurrect it from the grave there are still the sheeple out there that baaa and not their heads.

      .

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    3. .

      There is nothing as disgusting as some FOX news warrior willing to send other people's children off to die in some sink hole in the ME.

      .

      Delete
    4. .

      Even worse are those so wrapped up in the political talking points of their own side they are willing abjure reason and continue the same insanity over and over again until 'they get it right'.

      Dicks all.

      .

      Delete
    5. .

      Merely, take a look at Afghanistan to see the inanity of the 'if we had only kept troops there meme'. Even as we continue to pull troops out of Afghanistan, the current plan is to leave at least 10,000 troops there, a residual force that will continue after the end of this year, yet...

      KABUL — The Taliban claimed responsibility Thursday for storming a guesthouse frequented by foreigners, touching off a five-hour siege that left at least 14 people dead, including nine foreigners, one of them American, authorities said.

      The attack Wednesday on the Park Palace Hotel — which was hosting an evening party and concert for foreigners — was one of the most audacious assaults staged by the Taliban in the Afghan capital.


      http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/american-killed-when-multiple-gunmen-storm-guesthouse-in-kabul/2015/05/14/e339c8ba-f9b6-11e4-a47c-e56f4db884ed_story.html

      .

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  11. Replies
    1. But nothing happened in Libya.
      There were no US troops killed.

      Four dead CIA operatives in Benghazi does not a foreign policy disaster make.

      The 'stability' of Libya not a US foreign policy objective, not now, nor ever in the past.

      Delete
    2. .

      Lord, rat, you are a moron.

      Supposedly, or at least stated as such, a US foreign policy objective is to 'degrade and destroy' ISIS. The failed state we left in our wake in Libya not only now provides a breeding ground for ISIS it also help arm and spread the rise of militants in Syria and around the ME.

      Your inability to connect obvious dots amazes.

      .

      Delete
  12. I put the Leslie Clark video up again so the Israeli-firsters know that some of us still care and can think for ourselves.

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  13. The “These people” that Clark talks about are Neocons, Israeli-firsters, not American firsters. If you are an American, ask yourself why are Americans dying in the Middle East? You know the answer.

    Watch the video of an American Firster.

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  14. Here's the Republicans' problem: It's not so much that White People vote Republican; it's that White Christians vote overwhelmingly Republican.

    Non-Christian Whites vote about 2-1 Democrat. (along with everyone else.)

    If Whites are becoming a smaller, and smaller percentage of voters (and, they are,)

    And, if Christians are becoming a smaller percentage of Whites (and, they are,)

    Well, that is one nasty-assed trend.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Holy Moly! Jobless Claims - 264,000

    You'd have to go back a LOOooooong way to find a three week run like this.

    Yikes

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    1. And, PPI-FD (Producer Price Index - Final Demand) came in at - (Minus) 0.4, and

      YOY is - (Minus) 1.3

      Delete
  16. .

    There have always been scandals in every administration. We have come to expect it. However, unless my memory is failing me, I don't ever recall an administration that has been as completely corrupt (or alternatively, incompetent) as the current one. Every day we are confronted with new examples. Every department that I can think of in the vast Obama bureaucracy from the largest to the smallest, some I never even knew we had, has been tainted by some type of scandal. Worse, none of the abusers ever seem to suffer any consequences for their actions.

    The latest VA Administration IG report again reports on a scandal that has been reported in previous IG reports but still continues.

    The Department of Veterans Affairs has been spending at least $6 billion a year in violation of federal contracting rules to pay for medical care and supplies, wasting taxpayer money and putting veterans at risk, according to an internal memo written by the agency’s senior official for procurement.

    In a 35-page document addressed to VA Secretary Robert McDonald, the official accuses other agency leaders of “gross mismanagement” and making a “mockery” of federal acquisition laws that require competitive bidding and proper contracts.

    Jan R. Frye, deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and logistics, describes a culture of “lawlessness and chaos” at the Veterans Health Administration, the massive health-care system for 8.7 million veterans.

    “Doors are swung wide open for fraud, waste and abuse,” he writes in the March memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post. He adds, “I can state without reservation that VA has and continues to waste millions of dollars by paying excessive prices for goods and services due to breaches of Federal laws.”


    http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/va-improperly-spent-6-billion-on-care-for-veterans-senior-agency-leader-says/2015/05/13/ab8f131c-f5be-11e4-b2f3-af5479e6bbdd_story.html?hpid=z1

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    1. Your memory is failing, Legionnaire.

      The Federal government has been awash in scandal and corruption, ever since Teapot Dome.

      Though I am sure that was not the first Federal corruption scandal, it is a modern one that is easy to reference.
      As the scale and scope of the Federal government expanded, so too did the attendant scandal and corruption.

      Pick any time frame, there were Checkers everywhere.

      Delete
    2. .

      You miss the point, rat.

      It is not the corruption or the scandal we have seen here or there, in this department or that bureau, it is the ubiquitous nature of the of it in this administration in every department from the CIA and FBI to the Justice Department to HHS to the Secret Service to the VA to to IRS to NASA to General services to State to that small department (40 people or so) that I can't even remember the name of. It's an overriding culture and one in which none ever get punished.

      We have seen corruption and scandal at the top before (Nixon), we have seen it in various departments, we have seen bi-partisan scandals, but within my lifetime, I don't remember an administration where new stuff is popping up weekly like this.

      I'm not saying it couldn't have happened before, I'm just saying I don't remember any instances of it being so widespread.

      .

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  17. QuirkThu May 14, 09:38:00 AM EDT

    .

    There is nothing as disgusting as some FOX news warrior willing to send other people's children off to die in some sink hole in the ME.

    .
    QuirkThu May 14, 09:44:00 AM EDT

    .

    Even worse are those so wrapped up in the political talking points of their own side they are willing abjure reason and continue the same insanity over and over again until 'they get it right'.

    Dicks all.
    ************

    If you are referencing me, Quirk, well, I've listened to all you've said, and considered it well, and fuck you just the same.

    I am not in favor of sending ground troops back to ISISland.

    Once again, I am in favor of supporting Kurdish Independence, supporting Israel, and making nice with the current ruler of Egypt.

    That's about it.

    To try to dance around Obama's responsibility for the mess we are in is plainly dishonest, and disgusting.

    I repeat, Bush had the lid on. One doesn't go into these places for only a day.

    And, by the way, from what I've been reading the Afghan Army is doing somewhat better these days. . Keeping 10,000 troops or whatever it is there seems wise, particularly as they seem to be mostly support troops of some kind.

    We all know what happens if Afghanistan collapses......goes right back to being a base for terrorism.

    You don't want that, do you ?

    And I haven't heard any overwhelming support at Fox for sending troops back in......some yes, some maybe, some no.

    You have your stated policy - which seems to be OK with whatever it is that Obama is doing.

    Deuce said we had to do something about ISIS.

    I have never read yet just what that something is....

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    1. We do know, or should know, by now, that the 'rat Doctrine' is an utter epic fail. In plain unadorned language, horse shit.

      Likewise the 'Rufus Doctrine' of fooling around with some pin prick bombing.

      Only 11 more days until an ISIS Free Iraq, according to rat's ass.

      Tikrit was 'liberated' by the Iranians. Tikrit is best described as a 'ghost town' now. Shia Iraq is a satrap of Iran.

      Fighting remains in Ramadi, and the long heralded assault on Mosul does not seem to be at hand.

      We have a military boy genius there in our Napoleon on the Potomac.

      Delete
    2. Something ... that is the "Rat Doctrine".

      Supporting locals in the region that are willing to be on the side of US.
      If there are no such forces, then Bush screwed the pooch and the US cannot do anything about that, now.

      Invading the Middle East, again, not going to happen.
      The uproar over the loss of four CIA operatives, in Benghazi, sealed the deal on that option.

      If the US will not support Assad in his battle against the Islamic State, then it is clear that the US is not very interested in defeating the Islamic State.



      Delete
    3. Further, your current Catholic Pope may be a nice guy, but he is crazy as hell.

      He has called for a defensive just war to protect our selves from ISIS and the like, but then wants to recognize Hamas and the PLO and PA in some kind of unworkable 'state', a state dedicated to each and every proposition we in the West find reprehensible, from genocide, to slavery of thought, to counting women as 1/2 men, to converting the entire world to their insanity through force......

      I almost long for the good old days of Ratzinger.

      Delete
    4. If the locals will not operate on a time schedule that some commentators considered optimum, well ...

      ... Disappointments abound.

      But it does not change the reality that in Kobane, Syria and in the fight both Ramadi and Tikrit, as well as Erbil, Iraq the "Rat Doctrine" was a success. It will be wherever there are local forces worthy of US support.

      Delete

    5. The Iraqi's lack of initiative does not change the reality that Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson is a thief.

      Delete
    6. Wonderful day in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. Been here three nights now. Business a foot.

      Got to run.

      Cheers !

      Serenity !

      Delete
    7. bob Thu May 27, 12:52:00 AM EDT

      But I did rip off the bank for $7500 hundred dollars, when I was on my knees, and fighting for my economic life, on my aunt's credit card. But that wasn't really stealing, just payback. …


      http://2164th.blogspot.com/2010/05/gloom-and-doom-wednesday.html

      Delete
    8. .

      You have your stated policy - which seems to be OK with whatever it is that Obama is doing.

      Only to an Idaho English major who has proven he lacks the basic skill to read and comprehend,

      .

      Delete
  18. We have "pinpricked" almost 12,000 of the bastards to their death, so far.

    And, lost No Americans doing it (Bush's last year we lost over 100 troops in that shithole.)

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    1. Rat, and I, were a little optimistic on our timelines, but it doesn't matter a whit.

      The headcutting assholes are steadily dying, and our troops aren't.

      There is no fighting in Ramadi. Every now and then the headcutters try to take back one of the surrounding towns that they were kicked out of in this last round of fighting, but every time they are beat back.

      ISIS is slowly getting weaker, and the Iraqis are getting stronger - and, we continue to fly around and drop some ordnance when the occasion presents itself.

      Undoubtably, the most intelligent military operation of my lifetime.

      Delete
    2. .

      We lost 1,000 after the surge yet we we are told Iraq was pacified.

      That some neocons still argue the war was worth it amazes.

      .

      Delete
    3. Hey, ole Rufus is sure it was worth it because we got the oil and, according to Rufus, that's all that counts and why we should still be there now.

      Delete
  19. Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 11:00:00 AM EDT

    If the locals will not operate on a time schedule that some commentators considered optimum, well ...

    ... Disappointments abound.

    *******

    Ah, rat's ass is blaming the failure of his 'Doctrine' on the locals.

    Ha ha HA

    Tikrit was taken by the Iranians, Ramadi is still being disputed, the oil refinery is nearly lost, the big op on Mosul is lost in the planning stage. You have a partial point on Kobane, but that's it. ISIS in Syria is stronger than ever.

    Rufus claims 12,000 dead. Giving him a point that is much disputed, ISIS gets the same amount of new recruits each year........

    The 4th of July comes very shortly after Memorial Day.......

    I GOT to get running.....

    Cheers !

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  20. Our reckless endangerment had severe consequences and resulted in ISIS. We have a moral obligation to mitigate the damage that we caused.

    Fortunately we have some allies in the fight who are trying to undo our damage. We also have two duplicitous regimes, in Saudi Arabia and Israel that are trying to stop those opposed to ISIS. The Israelis, just to helpful, as always, killed an Iranian general who was directing operations against ISIS.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That ISraeli action, Deuce, came because ISrael would accept al-Qeada ruling in Syria.

      The organization that attacked the US on 11SEP2001 more acceptable to ISrael than Mr Assad's regime.
      A regime that has none no harm to US.

      Delete
    2. .

      We have a moral obligation to mitigate the damage that we caused.

      That moral obligation has to be weighed against our historical propensity to fuck up every initiative we try. When you end up doing more harm than good, you would think you would eventually step back and soberly reevaluate.

      .

      Delete
    3. Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 11:26:00 AM EDT
      That ISraeli action, Deuce, came because ISrael would accept al-Qeada ruling in Syria.

      The organization that attacked the US on 11SEP2001 more acceptable to ISrael than Mr Assad's regime.
      A regime that has none no harm to US.



      Actually Jack your knowledge of Syrian, Iranian and Hezbollah actions against the USA is quite lacking. The Syrians, Iranians and Hezbollah have a long and murderous history against the USA..

      But you KNOW that… But admitting that your friends are in fact, true enemies of the USA and people would expose you as also an enemy of America and it's people.


      Delete

    4. Document it for us, will you, "O"rdure.

      Delete
    5. No need Jack, jump thru your own hoops, the readers certainly KNOW you are full of crap and hate America. That you support Hamas and IRan…

      Jump yourself.

      Delete
    6. "O"rdure cannot document Iranian attacks upon the United States because there are none to document.

      Delete
    7. Notice readers who Jack, changes the statement to a different criteria?

      Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 01:46:00 PM EDT
      "O"rdure cannot document Iranian attacks upon the United States because there are none to document.


      This was and IS my statement.

      "Actually Jack your knowledge of Syrian, Iranian and Hezbollah actions against the USA is quite lacking. The Syrians, Iranians and Hezbollah have a long and murderous history against the USA..

      That's Jack's way…

      CHANGE and MISDIRECT…

      He is incapable of answering anything directly…

      No he changes the "point" to fit his fiction

      Delete
  21. Bush-whacked

    Jeb Bush found himself on defense after his town hall meeting in Reno, Nevada, Wednesday after a young voter told him, “Your brother created ISIS.”

    Ivy Ziedrich, a 19-year-old student at University of Nevada who said she was a registered Democrat, approached Bush after the event and told the likely presidential candidate he was wrong about the origins of the terror group:

    “You stated that ISIS was created because we don't have enough presence and we've been pulling out of the Middle East. However, the threat of ISIS was created by the Iraqi coalition authority, which ousted the entire government of Iraq. It was when 30,000 individuals who are part of the Iraqi military were forced out. They had no employment, they had no income, yet they were left with access to all the same arms and weapons. Your brother created ISIS!”

    Bush, the former Florida governor and likely Republican presidential candidate, unsuccessfully tried to interject. When he reached out, Ziedrich snapped back: “You don't need to be pedantic to me sir. You could just answer my question.”

    “We respectfully disagree,” Bush said, explaining his view that more American troops in Iraq would have prevented ISIS from forming.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Jack "the Rat" Hawkins posts this as "proof" of someone named "bob"

    bob Thu May 27, 12:52:00 AM EDT
    But I did rip off the bank for $7500 hundred dollars, when I was on my knees, and fighting for my economic life, on my aunt's credit card. But that wasn't really stealing, just payback. After all, I had paid them nearly 20% interest for about three years. My lawyer thought it to be a hell of a good move. He got most of the money. It was tough, in them days. They couldn't do a damn thing about it, I put her in the rest home, age 96. What you going to do, when she is institutionalized?


    Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 11:03:00 AM EDT
    bob Thu May 27, 12:52:00 AM EDT

    But I did rip off the bank for $7500 hundred dollars, when I was on my knees, and fighting for my economic life, on my aunt's credit card. But that wasn't really stealing, just payback. …

    http://2164th.blogspot.com/2010/05/gloom-and-doom-wednesday.html


    Interesting thing?

    The poster named "bob" was NOT a google account, just a made up sign on…

    The KIND that Jack Hawkins aka rat aka so many sign ons has made up over the years..


    So Jack Hawkins QUOTES a MADE UP post as proof…

    Hmm

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    3. JackThu May 14, 01:09:00 PM EDT
      I, Jack Hawkins, killed scores of civilians while being in the private employ of drug cartels in Central America

      Yep JACK SAID it

      Delete
    4. Just as strong as your so called "proof"

      It is you that is weak.

      Delete
    5. No, "O"rdure, Jack Hawkins is fictional.

      That you are obsessed by the character, a sure sign of strength.

      Delete
    6. Oh we BOTH KNOW the real name is BEHIND the poster….

      LOL

      SO does the AZ FBI…

      And Homeland Security


      and hopefully the Mossad….


      :)

      That's why you hide out on your refuge...

      Delete
  23. I found this from Jack on the blog…

    Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 01:12:00 PM EDT
    How much cash I got from the cartels is hard to say, but they were happy with the body count I gave them…

    I was desperate to raise money for my 350 acres of bottom lands in AZ

    http://2164th.blogspot.com/2014/01/it-takes-greener-potemkin-village.html?showComment=1431623548643#c1077157311286017977

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep Jack is one crusty one shit….

      Lies steals and kills for any reason to line his pocket..

      The PROOF, with links have been posted…

      Let the readers decide..

      Delete
  24. Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 10:21:00 AM EDT
    But nothing happened in Libya.
    There were no US troops killed.

    Four dead CIA operatives in Benghazi does not a foreign policy disaster make.

    The 'stability' of Libya not a US foreign policy objective, not now, nor ever in the past.



    Such cavalier attitudes about American lives…

    ReplyDelete
  25. Whoa.

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies conducted 31 air strikes since early on Wednesday targeting Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, the Combined Joint Task Force carrying out the operations said on Thursday.

    In Syria, nine air strikes hit near Al Hasakah and near the border town of Kobani, the task force said in a statement. In Iraq, 22 strikes destroyed vehicles, buildings and excavators near Mosul, Fallujah and other towns, it said.

    More Virgins, Please

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The "Rat Doctrine" keeps rolling forward, despite the chagrin expressed by Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson and his pet ISraeli

      Delete
    2. I thought you told me and the blog I was in Cleveland?

      LOL

      Delete
    3. "O"rdure's thoughts are muddled.

      Delete
    4. SHARP as a tack…

      You stalked the wrong Jew for decade…

      Chocolate Emporium…

      I am in Ohio…always have been..

      never changed…

      Now I know you think it's an insult to call me an Israeli…

      But it's high praise…

      Thanks

      Maybe someday..

      Delete
  26. Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 01:12:00 PM EDT
    How much cash I got from the cartels is hard to say, but they were happy with the body count I gave them…

    I was desperate to raise money for my 350 acres of bottom lands in AZ

    http://2164th.blogspot.com/2014/01/it-takes-greener-potemkin-village.html?showComment=1431623548643#c1077157311286017977



    Yep our very own Jack…

    Words from this blog, his mouth, proving his horrible past.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Deuce ☂Thu May 14, 11:21:00 AM EDT


    "Our reckless endangerment had severe consequences and resulted in ISIS. We have a moral obligation to mitigate the damage that we caused."





    Send 'aid' not bullets!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. errrrr, sorry, I should have wrote:

      Send 'aid' not BOMBS!!!

      Delete
  28. A high-profile group of former European political leaders and diplomats has called for the urgent reassessment of EU policy on the question of a Palestinian state and has insisted Israel must be held to account for its actions in the occupied territories.

    In a hard-hitting letter to the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, the group – which includes former prime ministers, foreign ministers and ambassadors also expresses serious doubts about the ability of the US to lead substantive negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

    It charges that EU political and financial aid has achieved nothing but the “preservation of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and imprisonment of Gaza”.

    The group, known as the European Eminent Persons Group, argues that the re-election of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the head of a narrow rightwing coalition has made the issue even more pressing.

    The signatories include Hubert Védrine and Roland Dumas, former foreign ministers of France, Andreas van Agt, former prime minister of the Netherlands, John Bruton, a former prime minister of Ireland, Michel Rocard, former prime minister of France, Javier Solana, former Nato secretary general and Sir Jeremy Greenstock, former UK ambassador to the UN.

    The letter comes at a time of increasingly heated debate in senior European policy circles amid heightened frustration over the moribund peace process and continued illegal Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories.

    In a damning assessment of EU policy, which the authors say has “hidden” behind US leadership in an “unedifying” manner, the letter says: “Europe has yet to find an effective way of holding Israel to account for the way it maintains the occupation. It is time now to demonstrate to both parties how seriously European public opinion takes contraventions of international law, the perpetration of atrocities and the denial of established rights.”

    ReplyDelete
  29. The Christians have their knickers all in a twist over Pope’s comments about Israeli mistreatment of Palestinians

    After Pope Francis moved to recognize a Palestinian State, some gung-ho defenders of Israel suggested the pontiff should stick to preaching and stay out of politics.

    “It’s interesting how the Vatican has gotten so political when ultimately the Vatican ought to be working to lead people to Jesus Christ and salvation, and that’s what the Church is supposed to do,” said Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), a hawkish defender of Israel.

    It wasn’t just Duncan. Several House conservatives seemed exasperated that Francis, who will address Congress this fall, approved the Vatican’s recognition of Palestine as a state. On Wednesday, critics said Rome needs to leave the question of Palestinian statehood to be sorted out in the Middle East.

    “I’m disappointed,” Duncan added. “Now the Pope is legitimizing a Palestinian state without requiring those who get recognition to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.”

    Others were frustrated that the pontiff would recognize a place that’s an avowed enemy of a U.S. ally like Israel.
    “I’m surprised that the pope would recognize Palestine when they’re still haters who want to eliminate Israel off the map and don’t recognize Israel,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), a member of the Israel Allies Caucus. “The Pope is the head of his religion, and he makes those calls for himself, but I represent 700,000 people from East Texas and a vast majority agree with me.”
    Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), who co-chairs the caucus, was even bolder, calling the pontiff’s position into question on Biblical grounds.


    Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/israel-hawks-to-pop-francis-stay-out-of-politics-117929.html#ixzz3a9EiBaH4

    ReplyDelete
  30. You have to love it when the real phonies start complaining about religion getting involved in politics, that from the supporters of the Jewish State of Israel, no less.

    LOL

    ReplyDelete
  31. “It’s interesting how the Vatican has gotten so political when ultimately the Vatican ought to be working to lead people to Jesus Christ and salvation, and that’s what the Church is supposed to do,” said Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), a hawkish defender of Israel.

    LOL

    ReplyDelete
  32. The real brain trust of he GOP Likuds Force.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I think it's great for the Catholic Church to recognize a Palestinian state.

    Really.

    Of course, the Catholic Church might have to give up some of the catholic occupied lands it has in Israel...

    :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is no Israel, only Occupied Palestine.

      There is, of course, the State of ISrael, which supports the Islamic State, founded Hamas and is allied with the Wahhabi of Saudi Arabia.

      Delete
    2. Israel would be a place that followed the Law as set forth in Leviticus.
      The Law of Moses.

      A truly Jewish Israel would not subsidize sodomy.
      If a society does subsidize sodomy, obviously they are not a Jewish society, but a secular one.

      Delete
    3. Tel Aviv devotes about $100,000 — more than a third of its international marketing budget — to drawing gay tourists. Though no exact figures exist, officials estimate that tens of thousands of gay tourists from abroad arrive annually.

      "We are trying to create a model for openness, pluralism, tolerance," Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai told The Associated Press. "Live and let live — this is the city of Tel Aviv."


      The city's first openly gay-owned hotel was opened recently and numerous city-backed travel sites direct gay visitors to the hottest clubs, bars and resorts in town.

      "We've long recognized the economic potential of the gay community. The gay tourist is a quality tourist, who spends money and sets trends,"
      said Pini Shani, a Tourism Ministry official who has been involved in the campaign.

      "There's also no doubt that a tourist who's had a positive experience here is of PR value. If he leaves satisfied, he becomes an Israeli ambassador of good will."


      http://cnsnews.com/news/article/tel-aviv-emerges-top-gay-tourist-destination

      Delete
    4. Ah, Jack's on his homo rants again..

      How quaint.

      Delete
    5. Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 05:39:00 PM EDT
      There is no Israel, only Occupied Palestine.

      There is, of course, the State of ISrael, which supports the Islamic State, founded Hamas and is allied with the Wahhabi of Saudi Arabia.



      Jack, how sad...

      Cant see reality....

      Just living in a purple drug induced hate filled haze...

      LOL

      Delete

    6. No, it has more to do with the ISraeli ignoring Judaism and the Law of Moses than Jack Hawkins doing anything.

      Delete
    7. But Jack you claim the Jews of Israel are not Jews!

      Which is it?

      Delete
  34. Take Six:

    Jeb Bush thinks we should re-engage in Iraq

    Jeb Bush - We should re-engage

    ReplyDelete
  35. This was, evidently, about an hour after he allowed as how he wouldn't have invaded Iraq, knowing what he knows now.

    But, he would Re-engage.

    Evidently, Dubya wasn't the dumb brother.

    ReplyDelete
  36. The 4 week moving average of Unemployment Claims as a Percentage of the Labor Force is now at an all time Low.

    Record Low - Graph

    ReplyDelete
  37. jack explain the quote...

    Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 01:12:00 PM EDT
    How much cash I got from the cartels is hard to say, but they were happy with the body count I gave them…

    I was desperate to raise money for my 350 acres of bottom lands in AZ

    http://2164th.blogspot.com/2014/01/it-takes-greener-potemkin-village.html?showComment=1431623548643#c1077157311286017977


    You said, there is the link, plain as day..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bibi giving solace to al-Qeada terrorists in an Israeli hospital

      http://www.tlvfaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/bibi-2.jpg

      http://syrianfreepress.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/netanyahu-visits-in-israeli-hospitals-terrorists-injured-in-syria-2.jpg

      Delete
    2. A hundred years before the advent of Hitler, the German-Jewish poet, Heinrich Heine, had declared:
      "Wherever books are burned, human beings are destined to be burned too."

      On the night of May 10, 1933, an event unseen in Europe since the Middle Ages occurred as German students from universities once regarded as among the finest in the world, gathered in Berlin to burn books with "unGerman" ideas.
      …. http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-bookburn.htm

      May 20, 2008 - Orthodox Jews burn hundreds of New Testaments in latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in Israel. ... The Maariv newspaper reported Tuesday that hundreds of students took part in the book-burning. . . .
      https://www.google.com/search?q=israel+book+burning&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

      Killing Palestinian Children, that is "Occupation"

      Delete
    3. But Jack, you said that only Jews are judged for KILLING palestinian kids...

      So one standard for Jews and no standards for anyone else?

      So it's ok that syria kills palestinian kids?

      So Assad of Syria murders 10,000 palestinians and you are cool with that...

      hmm

      Delete

  38. “To me the Zionists, who want to go back to the Jewish state of A.D. 70 (destruction of Jerusalem by Titus) are just as offensive as the Nazis.

    With their nosing after blood, their ancient "cultural roots," ...
    their partly canting, partly obtuse winding back of the world they are altogether a match for the National Socialists.


    That is the fantastic thing about the National Socialists,...
    that they simultaneously share in a community of ideas with Soviet Russia and with Zion.”


    ― Victor Klemperer, I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933-1941

    ReplyDelete

  39. Supporting the Islamic State, founding Hamas, alliance with the Wahhabi, that is "Occupation"

    ReplyDelete
  40. According to the study, the first-ever country-by-country survey of its kind, Israel has 7,700 to 8,500 slaves. Still, Israel ranked well relative to the lower standards in the Middle East, though Lebanon, Tunisia, and Egypt scored better than the Jewish state

    The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/thousands-of-slaves-in-israel-global-study-finds/#ixzz3GCi99Rck

    Sexual Slavery, that is "Occupation"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. ... Lebanon, Tunisia, and Egypt scored better ...

      In denial of reality, that is "Occupation"

      Delete
    2. Jack, by the standards your set you shall be judged.

      :)

      Delete
  41. BWABABWABABWABWABWAHAHAHAHAHAHA11

    Lookie here -

    What is "Occupation"Thu May 14, 01:13:00 PM EDT

    I found this from Jack on the blog…

    Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 01:12:00 PM EDT
    How much cash I got from the cartels is hard to say, but they were happy with the body count I gave them…

    I was desperate to raise money for my 350 acres of bottom lands in AZ

    http://2164th.blogspot.com/2014/01/it-takes-greener-potemkin-village.html?showComment=1431623548643#c1077157311286017977

    ************************

    hootHootHOOTHOOTHOOTHoothoot

    Most excellent WiO :)

    Drugs, money, murder.

    Murder, money, drugs.

    You are a truly disgusting piece of human shit, desert rat.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Jack's jew and Israel hatred is quite the display tonight.

    I see the Blog master approves...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, quite the pair.

      Jack is out and out insane.

      He truly needs help.

      Bonkers.....

      Delete
    2. His tirade against anything Israel is hand in glove with Deuce's pure hatred of Israel, zionism and such..

      they fit.

      Delete
    3. Did you know Jack rat's ass has a super secret project of vast importance going now off the coasts of Panama ?

      Delete
    4. I have zero sympathy for rat's ass. I feel somewhat differently about Deuce. I theorize he is under the influence of some evil jinn....

      Delete
    5. I mean, really, how else can one understand an otherwise intelligent man saying "Iran is fighting for civilization" ?

      Delete
  43. Had wonderful time in Coeur d'Alene.

    Very relaxing and fun and working with a humorous realtor who really know the area, and fly fishing too !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Got some nice pics of the lake too, with the sun and a low line of clouds mid way between the lake and a mountain ridge.

      Everything is blooming there now, and the young folks are all out jogging about - good healthy fun place, Cd'A, Idaho.

      Delete
  44. Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 06:10:00 PM EDT
    Israel would be a place that followed the Law as set forth in Leviticus.
    The Law of Moses.


    What do they say?

    out of the mouth of babies and fools...

    So Jack says: Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 06:10:00 PM EDT
    Israel would be a place that followed the Law as set forth in Leviticus.
    The Law of Moses.


    Ah, but there is NO PALESTINE in the TORAH.

    There is NO Palestinian people in the Torah...

    LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. rat's ass was in juve when the Bible classes were held.

      Delete
  45. Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 01:12:00 PM EDT
    How much cash I got from the cartels is hard to say, but they were happy with the body count I gave them…

    I was desperate to raise money for my 350 acres of bottom lands in AZ


    http://2164th.blogspot.com/2014/01/it-takes-greener-potemkin-village.html?showComment=1431623548643#c1077157311286017977
    ***************************************

    Name rat's ass Mexican Drug Cartel Contest

    Name the Drug Cartel (s) rat's ass dealt with in Mexico:

    1) Guadalajara Cartel

    Miguel Angel Felix GallardoFounded by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, and Rafael Caro Quintero, the Guadalajara Cartel is one of the five most famous drug cartels in history as it was among the first to work with and significantly prosper from the cocaine trade started in Colombia. Though his colleagues were arrested early on, Félix Gallardo was smart enough to privatize the Mexican drug trade by having it run by lesser-known bosses-yet top drug leaders-whom he had convene at “the plazas,” a house in Acapulco. He was eventually arrested and the Guadalajara Cartel split into two other powerful cartels, both mentioned below.

    2) Sinoloa Cartel

    Drug warOne half of the Guadalajara Cartel’s split, the Sinoloa Cartel is led by the most-wanted drug trafficker in Mexico, Joaquín Guzmán. With an estimated net worth of $1 billion, Guzmán is extremely powerful and so there is no doubt why the Sinoloa Cartel won a bloody battle against its former partner, the Juarez Cartel. Resulting in possibly as many as 12,000 casualties, the Sinoloa Cartel employed gangs such as the Artist Assassins, Genre Nueva, and Los Mexicles to attack the Juarez Cartel in its attempt to gain control over drug trafficking routes.

    3) Tijuana Cartel

    Tijuana Drug CartelThe Tijuana Cartel was considered by the police in the 1990s and early 2000s to be one of “the biggest and most violent criminal groups in Mexico,” according to the Arizona Daily Star. Alongside the Sinoloa Cartel, it was the other half when the Guadalajara Cartel split and was led by Félix Gallardo’s nephews, the Arellano Felix brothers. Although it is now much smaller due to deaths and arrests of its members-the results of an internal war-the Arellano Felix brothers’ nephew Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano has helped it continue.

    4) Juárez Cartel

    Juarez CartelDespite being involved in a bloody battle since 2007 with the Sinoloa Cartel, its former partner, for control over drug trafficking routes to Juárez, the Juárez Cartel still controls the three main drug entry points into El Paso, Texas. Worth billions of dollars, it works with two gangs-La Linea and the Barrio Azteca-to power one of the primary illegal drug shipment transportation routes into America. Despite its casualties resulting from the ongoing battle with the Sinoloa Cartel, the Juárez Cartel continues to be feared, especially for the way it decapitates its rivals and then mutilates and publically discards of their corpses.

    5) Gulf Cartel

    Osiel CardenasBased in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, the Gulf Cartel is perhaps one of the oldest organized crime groups in Mexico. With an international network, the Gulf Cartel serves more than just the drug trafficking scene. The group has been involved in assassinations and kidnappings worldwide and is known for its extreme widespread violence. This cartel’s most prominent period was in the late 1990s when it hired a private army, now Los Zetas; when the pair’s partnership dissolved in 2010, ending in a chaotic battle, the result was several ghost towns. Despite many of the Cartel’s leaders-including Mario Alberto Cardenas Guillen, Osiel Cardenas Guillen, Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez, and Antonio Cardenas Guillen-recently being captured and incarcerated, the group’s smuggling routes into the States remain intact.

    6) All of the above

    I will ask rat's ass tomorrow for the correct answer. Those that have answered correctly get a free trip to a 'cattle ranch' in Arizona !

    ReplyDelete
  46. A Draw rat's ass Cartoon Contest will be announced early next week.

    More free prizes to be announced, as well.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Also -

    Did Jack Pay Taxes On His Ill Gotten Gains Contest:

    >>>>Jack HawkinsThu May 14, 01:12:00 PM EDT
    How much cash I got from the cartels is hard to say<<<<

    1) Yes
    2) No
    3) Sloppy Accounting Made It Impossible For 'Honest Jack' Hawkins

    Correct answers get a free bottle of 'Cattle Rancher' Ale

    ReplyDelete
  48. Secret Service detains man trying to fly drone over White House............Drudge


    Ah, jeez

    Does anyone know Quirk's whereabouts this evening ?

    ReplyDelete
  49. UPDATE: Clinton Camp Mgr Mook Interned for Stephanopoulos...
    ABCNEWS anchor discloses $50,000 contribution to Foundation...
    $50,000 no, now $75,000...
    Leaks to POLITICO after FREEBEACON inquiry...
    Grilled 'Cash' author Schweitzer...
    Out as debate moderator...
    CRUZ: HE'S A 'PARTISAN DEMOCRAT'...
    FLASHBACK: ABC ASSURED WOULDN'T REPORT NEWS...
    GORGEOUS GEORGE................Drudge

    Ah, my, once a Democrat, always a Democrat.....

    The stock of 'Gorgeous' George Stephanopoulos had risen in my political portfolio several years ago when I heard him say the Clintons should never be allowed near the White House again, 'they don't deserve it'.

    I see he's back to his original boot licking career.

    Sad.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Oh, and I saw a great bumper sticker in Coeur d' Alene, on the back of a pickup truck, of course:

    SAVE AN ELK, EAT A WOLF

    I immediately thought, endearingly, of my wolf skinning, wolf eating hired hand Quirk the Compassionate PETA Person.

    Cheers !!

    ReplyDelete
  51. And -






    Iraqi News

    Ramadi


    Ramadi Iraq, the latest Ramadi news.
    30 casualties in Iraqi forces, ISIS seizes Jabbah area in al-Baghdadi District
    May 15, 2015
    (IraqiNews.com) Al-Anbar - On Thursday, a security source in Anbar province said, that 3 security elements have been killed and 27 others were injured in an ISIS attack on Jabbah area. The source told IraqiNews.com...
    Anbar Council calls Defense and Interior ministries to rescue Baghdadi district
    May 14, 2015
    (IraqiNews.com) Al-Anbar - Anbar Provincial Council member Ammash Aid demanded on Thursday, the Defense and Interior ministries to rescue Baghdadi district west of Ramadi and send urgent military reinforcements for fear of falling in...
    4 ISIS elements killed while attempting to enter al-Baghdadi District
    May 14, 2015
    (IraqiNews.com) Anbar - On Wednesday, al-Jazirah and al-Badiyah Operations Command announced that 4 ISIS elements have been killed in the district of al-Baghdadi. Lt. Gen. Naser al-Ghannam stated in an interview for IraqiNews.com, "Today, a...
    Mortar shell attack wounds 5 children in al-Habaniyah, east of Ramadi
    May 13, 2015
    (IraqiNews.com) Al-Anbar - On Wednesday, a security source in Anbar province said, that five children were hurt in a mortar shell attack by ISIS on the district of al-Habaniyah in east of Ramadi. The source...
    Iraqi security forces repel 2 ISIS attacks north and south of Ramadi
    May 11, 2015
    (IraqiNews.com) Anbar - On Monday, a security source in Anbar province said, that the security forces had managed to foil two ISIS attacks in north and south of Ramadi. The source told IraqiNews.com "The ISIS militants carried...
    Security forces kill large number of terrorists in al-Karma area
    May 10, 2015
    (IraqiNews.com) Baghdad - Baghdad Operations Command announced Sunday, that the Iraqi forces managed to kill a large number of terrorists in the operation to retake the area of al-Karma. Baghdad Operations said in a statement obtained by...
    U.S.-led coalition intensifies airstrikes as ISIS transports tons of weapons from Syria to Anbar,...
    May 7, 2015
    (IraqiNews.com) Anbar - On Thursday, Member of Anbar Provincial Council Farhan Mohammed revealed, that the ISIS militants had transported tons of weapons from Syria to Anbar Province. Member of the provincial council, Farhan Mohammed, stated...
    4 ISIS elements killed while planting bomb inside house in eastern Ramadi
    May 6, 2015
    (IraqiNews.com) Al-Anbar - On Wednesday, a security source in Anbar province said, that 4 ISIS elements were killed as they were trying to booby-trap a house in an area in eastern Ramadi. The source told...
    Coalition strike kills 4 ISIS elements in al-Qa’im, Anbar
    May 6, 2015
    (IraqiNews.com) Al-Anbar - On Wednesday, a security source in Anbar province said, that 4 ISIS elements have been killed in an air strike by the international coalition in west of the province. The source informed...
    ISIS destroys house of police officer in Anti-Explosives office in al-Baghdadi, Anbar
    May 6, 2015
    (IraqiNews.com) Al-Anbar- A security source in Anbar province announced on Wednesday, that ISIS has blown up a house of an officer working at the Explosives Office in al-Baghdadi west of Ramadi. The source said in an interview...
    Iraqi Army’s Golden Division foils ISIS attack on Ramadi
    May 5, 2015
    (IraqiNews.com) Al-Anbar - On Tuesday, a security source in Anbar province said, that the Iraqi security forces had managed to foil a violent attack by ISIS militants on the city of Ramadi. The deputy commander...

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