Hang Right Politics

24 Responses to “The President’s speech open thread”

1. Republicanpundit Says:
   January 10th, 2007 at 8:57 pm

   Pelosi already been on whining. She was in a red straightjacket.

2. Sir Randall Says:
   January 10th, 2007 at 9:04 pm

   RP…

   Actually…

   Pelosi’s ‘outfit’ looks like one of my Mom’s…(from the early 1960’s)…

3. Republicanpundit Says:
   January 10th, 2007 at 9:46 pm

   So much for the Iraq Study Group’s recommendation.

   President gives it all the credibility it deserves, which is nothing.

4. Jeanette Says:
   January 10th, 2007 at 9:58 pm

   I’m getting flashbacks from the Viet Nam era. I watched on Fox and while Brett Baer was reporting from outside the White House we could hear the anti-war protesters.

   This plan is fine if it actually works, but to do that the rules of engagement need to be changed to allow our military forces to fight and not be worried about murder charges.

   5 brigades in Baghdad. Isn’t that a division? We need to quit being policemen and allow our military to be military and conduct military operations. This nation-building experiment isn’t working and it’s not a military job. Kill or capture the bad guys and move on to the next nest of them.

   Keeping troops concentrated in Baghdad and Anbar province is a good idea so long as we get the bad guys and they just don’t go someplace else to wait us out.

   Whatever we do, we know our military has more than done the job they were sent to do, and I’m not sure even this die-hard supporter of this war is willing to have even one more drop of American blood shed in order to stop a religious war in a pre-historic land composed of people who have no value for human life.

5. Republicanpundit Says:
   January 10th, 2007 at 10:15 pm

   Jeanette,

   We will win this if the American People have the willingness to support our troops and the President.

   This is a question for the country to answer.

6. Jeanette Says:
   January 10th, 2007 at 10:17 pm

   RP,

   We need to quit saying we will win and say we have won because we did win the military war in a matter of days. The rest has been nation-building and police work.

   Our military has done an exemplary job and we should never suggest the war has not been won. We just haven’t won the peace yet and that’s really up to the Iraqi people. IMO.

7. smh10 Says:
   January 10th, 2007 at 10:23 pm

   Great link to the response of a mature Democrat.

   http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDI4MzhlODFhY2E4ZDAzYzRjYzdjYWFhZmVmYjY0ZWE=

8. Republicanpundit Says:
   January 10th, 2007 at 10:36 pm

   Jeanette,

   What I am saying is that the people have to decide whether we want a foothold in the Middle East, or whether we want chaos over there for the next 20 years. If the people are made to understand the importance of what we are doing, they will support. That is what the President will have to do.
   This is not whether the military can subdue the insurgents. Of course we can, but it will have to be clearly understood by the people that it won’t be pretty and the gloves truly will have to come off. It is a matter of the will of the people.

9. Big Mo Says:
   January 10th, 2007 at 10:43 pm

   Our friend Oak Leaf says nothing’s really changed as a result of this speech, because the rules of engagement haven’t really been been changed. I’m not so sure. It looks to me that, between the lines, there’s a big green light to go in and get Sadr and his goons.

   I could easily be wrong and Oak Leaf be right, of course.

   The next few months will tell.

10. Dawnsblood Says:
    January 10th, 2007 at 10:48 pm

    Highlights of the speech.

    Allahpundit at Hotair.com offers highlights of the speech.Reaction is here at one and two.Our friends at Hang Right Politics open thread it, while Sheila cheers!

11. Republicanpundit Says:
    January 10th, 2007 at 10:59 pm

    You have to read between the lines at what Oak said. If we allow the Iraqi’s (We will be imbedded) to make the determination about the rules of engagement, a lot has changed. They will not be so “politicaly correct” as we are.

12. Jeanette Says:
    January 10th, 2007 at 11:05 pm

    RP,

    I agree it’s up to the American people to say if they want to win the war on terror, but it’s really up to the Iraqi people as to whether or not we can clean up their little nests of rats.

    The Iraqi people don’t seem to be too keen on wanting to rid themselves of these thugs as they all seem to be playing both sides against the middle.

    As a weird example look at what happened to the official version of the hanging of Saddam. Instead of keeping quiet and going along with the government position we saw bootlegged videos which showed there was something not right in the way he was killed. This made him look like a martyr to Muslim people instead of the despot he really was.

    Because those videos were released for everyone to see it has undermined the very government the photographers supposedly work for. If they are working for the government and have no loyalty to it why should we continue to spill blood for them?

    I guess what I’m trying to say is even if it appears we have cleaned it all up and tied a bow around the package when we leave, inside that pretty package is still a nest of cobras.

    The ones with the most money will win. It’s their way. Loyalty to their tribes and to heck with a nation. We can’t understand it because the very idea is so foreign to us.

    We’ll never have real friends in the Mid-East except Israel, no matter how hard we work to help these thankless people.

13. Jeanette Says:
    January 10th, 2007 at 11:07 pm

    Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to sweep the place clean and be wrong on this, but I just don’t trust those people to be able to go to the bathroom without us showing them how. They need to start to depend on themselves and build some national pride. Tough to do in a society that dresses and shops like we do, but thinks like Neanderthal Man.

14. Jeanette Says:
    January 10th, 2007 at 11:16 pm

    I really have to give a lot of consideration to what Oak Leaf says because he has been such a big supporter of this effort until he went to Iraq himself and talked with his peers.

    He doesn’t want us to fail and doesn’t have to prove his credentials to us, so when he says what he’s saying I have to put a lot of credence in it because he knows a lot more about the situation than I do.

    How would you feel if you were about to come back home and found out you have to extend for 60 or 90 days when you thought you had survived? Morale has got to be bad.

    Again, let the military do what military people do better than anyone else: fight a war. Stop letting the PC crowd dictate the rules of engagement. Like Viet Nam before it, this war is not conventional.

    I remember friends of ours coming home from Viet Nam saying they didn’t know who to trust over there because someone you thought was a friend could have a booby trap on themselves to kill you and them.

    The enemy in Iraq wears no uniform and will use women, children and old people to kill as many Americans as possible. Remember their goal in life is to convert or kill the infidels, and anyone not a Muslim is an infidel to them.

15. Republicanpundit Says:
    January 10th, 2007 at 11:35 pm

    The Colonel is saying that we have burnt out the reserve units and we have to start depending on more regular army. We should have increased our troop levels by 50% four years ago. That was the big argument between the Generals and Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld wanted a lean smaller force which would be more specialized and trained specifically, while most Generals and SNCO’s wanted to have more boots to send places.

    I plan to write an article tomorrow about why it is going to take a long time to build a “true Iraqi army force”.

16. MFG Says:
    January 11th, 2007 at 1:03 am

    I think we should vote immediately on whether or not to defund the war. If the war is not defunded we should go ahead with the Presidents plan

    If that plan fails, get out as soon as possible

17. Jeanette Says:
    January 11th, 2007 at 8:41 am

    If this is what the president and the military brass think is the best course of action I think we should do it. He’s telling Iraq to get its house in order because we can’t hold their hands forever. Good for him. I just hope it works. It’s not a military problem as far as working but a problem as to whether or not we can get the Iraqis to step up to the plate. Time will tell on that.

18. davidm Says:
    January 11th, 2007 at 11:32 am

    I took my wife to her doctor’s appointment and the cancer was gone! Thank you for your prayers. As always, they worked.
    Thereafter I went to work and didn’t get home in time to see more than the last few minutes of the President’s speech. It sounded fine on the radio, but I read an article on line this morning (that I can’t find now) that said his delivery was terrible. Not in mis-speaking, which we all do, but that he looked tenative, unsure, deeply furrowed brow–those kind of physical characteristics. Is that your impression?
    Also, I’m interested in what Oak Leaf said, but I don’t know where to find his comments that some of you refer to. I tried the blog role, but I must not know where to look. Thanks.

19. MarktG Says:
    January 11th, 2007 at 11:38 am

    Unless they change the Rules of Engagement this is going to be the same. It won’t matter how many more troops you send there, if the ROEs favor the enemy then we are fighting a limited action and putting the troops lives at risk.

    At one checkpoint the gunners brought buckets of rocks, to throw at the oncoming cars that would not stop. After the command had paid for numerous windshields the rules were modified.

    The military has also tightened rules of engagement as the war has progressed, toughening the requirements before a sniper may shoot an Iraqi. Potential targets must be engaged in a hostile act, or show clear hostile intent. These are rule my local police use.

    The marines say insurgents know the rules, and now rarely carry weapons in the open. Instead, they pose as civilians and keep their weapons concealed in cars or buildings until just before they need them. Later, when they are done shooting, they put them swiftly out of sight and mingle with civilians.

    I don’t know why the left is complaining about this because the rules come right out of the lefts playbook, our troops are very limited in what they can do, they darn near need to start taking casualties before they can return fire.

    This is the fair and balanced war, for the enemy. This kind of thinking runs parallel to the convoluted thought process of giving the Terrorists constitutional rights, and a right to our legal system.

    Every student of military science understands the ugly nature of insurgencies; where insurgents are un-uniformed, unconventional fighters who move freely throughout the community during the day, and become bushwhackers at night. They routinely use women and children as human shields, and often coerce the latter into the service of operating guerrillas.

    This is particularly effective against U.S. forces, because the enemy knows that no matter how much stress they may be under, American soldiers will go to great lengths to avoid killing women and children; and even hesitate (at great risk to themselves) when they see women and children shooting at them.

20. Sir Randall Says:
    January 11th, 2007 at 12:11 pm

    OT…

    davidm,

    ‘Thank You’ for sharing this great news with us. And please know that we will continue to remember your wife in our prayers.

    Take care,

    SR

21. Sir Randall Says:
    January 11th, 2007 at 12:29 pm

    #19–MarktG…

    If I understand your comments correctly, you are saying,

    “Unleash the American Eagle” !!!

    After that, we can call for a ‘Field Day’ and ‘police the area’…

    I think it’s a ‘hell-of-a-plan’…

22. MarktG Says:
    January 11th, 2007 at 2:25 pm

    Sir Randall

    You are ‘Spot-on.’

    Our troops are the best trained in the world, the best equipt, so lets let them do their job.

23. Jeanette Says:
    January 11th, 2007 at 5:06 pm

    David,

    Oak Leaf blogs for Polipundit. You can find him here.

24. davidm Says:
    January 11th, 2007 at 5:22 pm

    Thank you, Jeanette. He’s referred to so frequently I wanted to become more familiar with his postings. I read what he wrote and thought it was great. I also liked the praise of the President’s speech from Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.). He’s the first person to really focus on the need for patience. I hope a lot of people heard his comments.

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