Facts better for GOP in O8 than 06: by Michael Barone

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there's also the little known fact that it is the UN and specifically the UN Security Council that decides exactly how it will enforce it's own resolutions, and not the United States.

but, hey, why let details like that stop us when were droning into a bullhorn?

ahem
 
congress's ratings have dropped due to the democratic failure to end the war in Iraq.

Saddam's behavior was effectively contained and the sense of crisis was fabricated due to the administration's decision to hype the non-existent threat of WMDs in order to use the fear and pain from 9-11 to win support from the American public to invade Iraq. evidence of Saddam's purported threat to the region, especially given his 11 year containment, would never have convinced the American public, nor the rest of the world.

you consistently cite what you think others are "saying" about this, that, and the other. and then you rebut the arguments you imagine are out there without ever addressing what's actually happening in the forum.

example: [q]Its only Barack Obama and the Democrats that have decided to repeatedly mourn his removal from power on the campain trail[/q]

mourn his removal from power? are you hoping that someone is going to take that statement seriously? you'll notice that very few people actually engage you on these topics -- especially when compared to other posters -- because you post as if no one else is in the room and you consistently sidestep their arguments in favor of ones you've already fabricated.


If Saddam was effective contained in 2002 why was there absolutely no sanctions or weapons embargo along the entire Syrian Iraqi border? Why were countries around the world routinely breaking the sanctions and embargo rules imposed on Iraq by the UN? How was Saddam able to sell Billions of dollars worth of oil on the black market? The fact is, most of the sanctions and weapons embargo put in place on Iraq in 1991 largely ceaced to exist by 2002. The entire containment regime had started to crumble in the late 1990s and efforts to continue it had failed. Thousands of stocks of WMD remained unaccounted for, UN inspectors were not allowed in the country, and Saddam was maintaining and hiding several programs key to the production of WMD which he never showed UN inspectors who came into Iraq in 2002 and 2003. The only way to insure that Saddam was disarmed and not a threat to the region was to remove him from power. Everything short of a full scale military invasion had been tried and failed to bring about compliance with the UN resolutions in the previous 12 years. The invasion was the only option left, and the invasion succeeded in accomplishing what every other option had failed to do in the previous 12 years.

The majority of Americans according to the Gallup poll already supported Saddam's removal from power even prior to 9/11. The administration did its best with the intelligence it had and the central case for military action was always what was laid down in the UN resolutions and not the cherry picked qoutes that Democrats like to trot out as claims of the administration "hyping" or "lying" about the need for military action.
 
if this is so compelling, why did the administration hype the WMD information and then blame the CIA for misleading them?

They didn't hype the information, they did the best they could with the intelligence that was available. But its just intelligence. After the first Gulf War, it was found that Saddam was not 10 years away from getting a nuclear weapon, but was only 6 months away from getting a nuclear weapon. Intelligence is often incorrect, but must be mentioned and apart of any decision to go to war. But the chief reason for war was Saddam's behavior and non compliance with the UN resolutions. The only way the international community could know for sure that Saddam was disarmed and no longer a threat was by removing him given his behavior and failure to comply with the UN and future goals for the region learned through investigations with him after his capture. Removing Saddam was a necessity for the security of the region and the world.
 
If Saddam was effective contained in 2002 why was there absolutely no sanctions or weapons embargo along the entire Syrian Iraqi border? Why were countries around the world routinely breaking the sanctions and embargo rules imposed on Iraq by the UN? How was Saddam able to sell Billions of dollars worth of oil on the black market? The fact is, most of the sanctions and weapons embargo put in place on Iraq in 1991 largely ceaced to exist by 2002. The entire containment regime had started to crumble in the late 1990s and efforts to continue it had failed. Thousands of stocks of WMD remained unaccounted for, UN inspectors were not allowed in the country, and Saddam was maintaining and hiding several programs key to the production of WMD which he never showed UN inspectors who came into Iraq in 2002 and 2003. The only way to insure that Saddam was disarmed and not a threat to the region was to remove him from power. Everything short of a full scale military invasion had been tried and failed to bring about compliance with the UN resolutions in the previous 12 years. The invasion was the only option left, and the invasion succeeded in accomplishing what every other option had failed to do in the previous 12 years.

The majority of Americans according to the Gallup poll already supported Saddam's removal from power even prior to 9/11. The administration did its best with the intelligence it had and the central case for military action was always what was laid down in the UN resolutions and not the cherry picked qoutes that Democrats like to trot out as claims of the administration "hyping" or "lying" about the need for military action.




it's astonishing that you'd call the WMD fiasco "cherry picking" when it was, without question, the central case for war as laid out by Bush, Cheney, Condi, and Rumsfeld. for anyone to claim otherwise is simply false. the UN resolutions were brought up when pleading their case to the UN itself and to the international community in order to universalize the perceived problem as well as to make the case that there was more to the motivation than just WMDs or twisted revenge fantasies in the mind of GWB. i don't think you can call an entire hour on Meet the Press where Cheney lays out the danger posed by Saddam's WMDs to the American people, or the discussion of the "grave and gathering danger" or the "form of a mushroom cloud" or the continuous debates on the legality or not of a pre-emptive war.

ultimately, you can't get past the fact that all that you've written above wasn't considered a strong enough case for war by the administration themselves. so the fabricated, hyped, amplified, and Team B'd the weapons intel in order to make a case for war, and they only did so *after* 9-11 because they knew a shell-shocked American population would be easy to mislead.
 
there's also the little known fact that it is the UN and specifically the UN Security Council that decides exactly how it will enforce it's own resolutions, and not the United States.

but, hey, why let details like that stop us when were droning into a bullhorn?


The UN Security Council gave authorization for military action against Saddam if he failed to comply with the UN resolutions in resolutions 678, 687, and 1441. The UN then authorized the occupation brought about by the invasion of 2003 in resolution 1483 and has done so every summer since then. The UN would never authorize and occupation brought about through illegal means. It would condemn such an invasion as it condemned Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Yet, there was not even a single attempt, not even one attempt by one country to get a UN resolution condemning the invasion in 2003, despite the fact that multiple UN members draft resolutions against Israel knowing full well that they will be vetoed.
 
The administration did its best with the intelligence it had and the central case for military action was always what was laid down in the UN resolutions and not the cherry picked qoutes that Democrats like to trot out as claims of the administration "hyping" or "lying" about the need for military action.

That's really funny, Sting. First.

Originally Posted by Irvine511
there's also the little known fact that it is the UN and specifically the UN Security Council that decides exactly how it will enforce it's own resolutions, and not the United States.

Second, it is hugely obvious that the administration was guilty of cherry picking it's public reasons for going to war. Scott McClellan admits to it in his new book, Richard Clarke admitted to it long ago, but I'm sure we can all dismiss them both since they're, you know, no longer following the administration's hook, line and sinker.

You simply cannot look back on the way the administration sold this war and tell us with a straight face that they presented the evidence in a balanced way without leaning too heavily on any one angle. Your continued insistence that that is indeed the case only further highlights your willfull ignorance of reality.
 
so, aside from the "hire and hide" techniques that you call "counterinsurgency" and the consistent moving of the goalposts to measure the political progress that was always the stated goal of The Surge (still today just a tactic, not a strategy), i do wonder, is the building of 50-60 large, permanent bases in Iraq part of getting that country to stand on it's own?

Counterinsurgency involves many political, economic and military tactics of which hiring locals to help with the security is but one. I don't know who your talking about as far as "hiding", but US and coalition forces have been more exposed over the past 18 months than they have been ever in the war or for that matter in any past conflict. Small teams of US troops base themselves in various Iraqi communities all across the country as well as imbedding themselves with Iraqi Security forces to improve their training and effectiveness. Despite the increase exposure, the result has been greater security because Iraqi civilians feel more secure with US troops imbedded with their communties. They more willing to give valuable intelligence to US forces as well as fight against the insurgency. By also providing economic aid and help with political development, the US has been able to win over much of the Sunni Arab population and this has helped to turn the tide against the insurgency as dramatically shown by the decrease in casualties and number of attacks.

The United States has never built any bases that can't be torn down or eventually transfered to the Iraqi military for its needs. I wonder when Democrats will actually begin to acknowledge the progress that has been made and also learn a little history about nationbuilding and counterinsurgency so that don't continue to remain ignorant and in the dark on such issues.
 
it's astonishing that you'd call the WMD fiasco "cherry picking" when it was, without question, the central case for war as laid out by Bush, Cheney, Condi, and Rumsfeld. for anyone to claim otherwise is simply false. the UN resolutions were brought up when pleading their case to the UN itself and to the international community in order to universalize the perceived problem as well as to make the case that there was more to the motivation than just WMDs or twisted revenge fantasies in the mind of GWB. i don't think you can call an entire hour on Meet the Press where Cheney lays out the danger posed by Saddam's WMDs to the American people, or the discussion of the "grave and gathering danger" or the "form of a mushroom cloud" or the continuous debates on the legality or not of a pre-emptive war.

ultimately, you can't get past the fact that all that you've written above wasn't considered a strong enough case for war by the administration themselves. so the fabricated, hyped, amplified, and Team B'd the weapons intel in order to make a case for war, and they only did so *after* 9-11 because they knew a shell-shocked American population would be easy to mislead.

What you don't understand is that the administration already won the case for war with the congressional approval that they won in October 2002 just one month after they started making their case. The majority of the speaches qoutes you like to talk about occured after the vote in congress when the President already had the authorization he needed to go to war. In addition, all the polling that gallup did both prior to 9/11 and after shows that a majority of the US public already supported invading Iraq and removing the regime!
 
I wonder when Democrats will actually begin to acknowledge the progress that has been made and also learn a little history about nationbuilding and counterinsurgency so that don't continue to remain ignorant and in the dark on such issues.

These sweeping generalities are what make it easy for many to tune you out. If you haven't picked up on it, the most reasonable people in the forum are usually the most respected (see: Yolland). All you do is try to infuriate the left.

Your posts are very predictable: you will be very long winded, so as to scare off the simple reader who wants a summary. And you will act as if you have many facts, to scare off the reader who doesn't regularly research the topic. That leaves you to challenging a select few, who you can sweep up into a category of "Democrats with their fingers in their ears." It's a formula that is effective in your eyes, despite the fact that you lack any ounce of respect from anyone on this forum besides the occasional conservative who will drink the Kool-Aid right along side of you.

If I were you, I'd start trying to have discourse based more around comparing sources and being willing to concede certain arguments as opposed to making generalities and re-hashing arguments that were already debunked.
 
That's really funny, Sting. First.



Second, it is hugely obvious that the administration was guilty of cherry picking it's public reasons for going to war. Scott McClellan admits to it in his new book, Richard Clarke admitted to it long ago, but I'm sure we can all dismiss them both since they're, you know, no longer following the administration's hook, line and sinker.

You simply cannot look back on the way the administration sold this war and tell us with a straight face that they presented the evidence in a balanced way without leaning too heavily on any one angle. Your continued insistence that that is indeed the case only further highlights your willfull ignorance of reality.

Scott's a spokeperson for the administration and nothing more. Richard Clarke just appears to be a person with an axe to grind and has way to narrow a view of national security. There are plenty of people who claimed the Bush Sr. administration hyped the threat from Iraq in order to go to war in 1991. Colin Powell does not think the administration hyped or was intentionally dishonest about anything. To this day he continues to support the administration decision to remove Saddam from power as does the majority of the US military.
 
These sweeping generalities are what make it easy for many to tune you out. If you haven't picked up on it, the most reasonable people in the forum are usually the most respected (see: Yolland). All you do is try to infuriate the left.

Your posts are very predictable: you will be very long winded, so as to scare off the simple reader who wants a summary. And you will act as if you have many facts, to scare off the reader who doesn't regularly research the topic. That leaves you to challenging a select few, who you can sweep up into a category of "Democrats with their fingers in their ears." It's a formula that is effective in your eyes, despite the fact that you lack any ounce of respect from anyone on this forum besides the occasional conservative who will drink the Kool-Aid right along side of you.

If I were you, I'd start trying to have discourse based more around comparing sources and being willing to concede certain arguments as opposed to making generalities and re-hashing arguments that were already debunked.


If I were you, I'd stick to discussing the topic rather than other people in the forum. Perhaps you need to read the rules of the forum which you agreed to abide by when you signed up.
 
If I were you, I'd stick to discussing the topic rather than other people in the forum. Perhaps you need to read the rules of the forum which you agreed to abide by when you signed up.

What I'm trying to say is: Your posting style makes it impossible to discuss the topic. Hence, my post.
 
What you don't understand is that the administration already won the case for war with the congressional approval that they won in October 2002 just one month after they started making their case. The majority of the speaches qoutes you like to talk about occured after the vote in congress when the President already had the authorization he needed to go to war. In addition, all the polling that gallup did both prior to 9/11 and after shows that a majority of the US public already supported invading Iraq and removing the regime!



so we've totally backed away from the contention that i and "democrats" have been "cherry picking" quotes?

good.

this also completely glosses over what the October 2002 Congressional vote did and did not do, nor does it have anything to do with the fabricated case that the administration made to justify going to war. it's not as if Congress authorized, and Bush bombed the next day. obviously, the Bushies felt they had much, much more work to do nor did they trust the very "case" you cite as such unassailable proof that a war in this manner, on this timetable, was the only conceivable course of action. for if that were the case, then we wouldn't have had any of the drama that gripped the world in late 2002 and early 2003.

the case that you've laid out in here over and over and over again obviously wasn't good enough for the White House. why it's good enough for you is something only you can answer.
 
so, coming at this in the morning with a night's sleep and a workout behind me, i suppose i really have to say that i am genuinely puzzled and a little sad.

this is post 14,427 and i think i can count on one hand the number of posters -- 3, to be exact -- that i've been unable to have a productive exchange with. and #1 on that list is, obviously, STING. the other two were little spats in LS (not worth mentioning) and EYKIW (when someone refused to consider that, shock, Boy is loaded with sexual ambiguity and that "twilight" is about being approached by a guy).

so i really don't think i'm the problem here. or not the only problem. i think all anyone really wants is interesting, productive dialog, and, yes, possibly to score some points for their "team," but it amazes me how in every single thread on this topic things go instantly downhill in civility, tone, and quality the moment certain posts are re-posted.

just an observation.

Notice that there is a topic for this thread and its not a poster in the forum. I know how interested you are in me and talking about me, but were here to discuss topics and issues not members of the forum. If you really have a problem with me, you don't have to read my post, let alone open up a thread which I started or even respond to it. If what you say is true, why do you have hundreds of post either in response to something I have said or are some strange attempt to characterize my posts like above? Post your opinion on the topic and move on, or don't even engage in it at all. Its that simple.
 
so we've totally backed away from the contention that i and "democrats" have been "cherry picking" quotes?

good.

this also completely glosses over what the October 2002 Congressional vote did and did not do, nor does it have anything to do with the fabricated case that the administration made to justify going to war. it's not as if Congress authorized, and Bush bombed the next day. obviously, the Bushies felt they had much, much more work to do nor did they trust the very "case" you cite as such unassailable proof that a war in this manner, on this timetable, was the only conceivable course of action. for if that were the case, then we wouldn't have had any of the drama that gripped the world in late 2002 and early 2003.

the case that you've laid out in here over and over and over again obviously wasn't good enough for the White House. why it's good enough for you is something only you can answer.

It was more than good enough for the White House, but the United States did not have the needed military forces in place in Kuwait and the region to invade Iraq until March of 2003. The central case for military action laid down in resolution 1441 is not a frabrication, its a fact! To this day its one that Colin Powell supports as well as the majority of the military.
 
Scott's a spokesperson who was told to concentrate his responses on certain terms and avoid other aspects when responding to questions about the war. Which directly supports my argument. And of course Clarke is just a person with an axe to grind to you, because he doesn't agree with your assessment.

As to Colin Powell, yes he supports the use of military force. That does not address, however, the administration's selling of the war to the public, or its handling of the war. His chief of staff at the time of his infamous UN speech wrote a book titled "Dead Wrong -- Inside an Intelligence Meltdown", and referring to Powell's speech at the UN, says "I look back on it, and I still say it was the lowest point in my life."

David Kay, the CIA's chief weapon's inspector in Iraq after Saddam fell, says "In fact, Secretary Powell was not told that one of the sources he was given as a source of this information had indeed been flagged by the Defense Intelligence Agency as a liar, a fabricator." (read CNN.com - Former aide: Powell WMD speech 'lowest point in my life' - Aug 19, 2005 for more)

And Powell, when asked about his infamous speech to the UN, said "There were some people in the intelligence community who knew at the time that some of these sources were not good, and shouldn't be relied upon, and they didn't speak up." And asked if that speech would tarnish his reputation, "Of course it will. It's a blot. I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and [it] will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now." (from ABC News: Colin Powell on Iraq, Race, and Hurricane Relief)

So while yes, he does ultimately support the war, it's not as if he's perfectly fine with the drum-up to the war as well.
 
Notice that there is a topic for this thread and its not a poster in the forum. I know how interested you are in me and talking about me, but were here to discuss topics and issues not members of the forum. If you really have a problem with me, you don't have to read my post, let alone open up a thread which I started or even respond to it. If what you say is true, why do you have hundreds of post either in response to something I have said or are some strange attempt to characterize my posts like above? Post your opinion on the topic and move on, or don't even engage in it at all. Its that simple.


when one poster consistently destroys entire threads, it affects everyone.

i am one of the few who actively engage you. a forum like this isn't so simple as posting speeches on whatever topic. it requires a level of human engagement, of back-and-forth, of acknolwedging another viewpoint and of offering something different. the manner in which one debates, as well as the techniques one uses to debate, not to mention the fact that the quality of an argument is severely undermined when all opposition is summarily dismissed in the most facile manner possible ... all these are quite open for discussion and are not in any way personal attacks.

but if you must view them as such, go right ahead.
 
It was more than good enough for the White House, but the United States did not have the needed military forces in place in Kuwait and the region to invade Iraq until March of 2003. The central case for military action laid down in resolution 1441 is not a frabrication, its a fact! To this day its one that Colin Powell supports as well as the majority of the military.



if it was good enough for the white house, why the need for all the speeches that hyped the WMD threat? why the need for Cheney to talk about Saddam restarting his nuclear program? why was 1441 obviously not good enough for the UN?

and why do you invoke Colin Powell, a man who's career is defined/tarred by Iraq, as some sort of beacon of truth? and why would the military be in support of an action that they've been called upon to perform?

you'll dismiss Clarke and McClellan -- and the entire CIA -- but present Powell and the "majority" of the military as unimpeachable sources of truth?
 
when one poster consistently destroys entire threads, it affects everyone.

i am one of the few who actively engage you. a forum like this isn't so simple as posting speeches on whatever topic. it requires a level of human engagement, of back-and-forth, of acknolwedging another viewpoint and of offering something different. the manner in which one debates, as well as the techniques one uses to debate, not to mention the fact that the quality of an argument is severely undermined when all opposition is summarily dismissed in the most facile manner possible ... all these are quite open for discussion and are not in any way personal attacks.

but if you must view them as such, go right ahead.

Unless your a moderator why are you engaging in a discussion that has nothing to do with the thread topic? If you really believe that there is some type of a problem, you talk to a moderator or start another thread. Discussing other peoples alleged posting habbits or them, rather than discussing the issues or the thread topic, is precisely the thing that destroys threads. This thread is becoming a perfect example.
 
if it was good enough for the white house, why the need for all the speeches that hyped the WMD threat? why the need for Cheney to talk about Saddam restarting his nuclear program? why was 1441 obviously not good enough for the UN?

and why do you invoke Colin Powell, a man who's career is defined/tarred by Iraq, as some sort of beacon of truth? and why would the military be in support of an action that they've been called upon to perform?

you'll dismiss Clarke and McClellan -- and the entire CIA -- but present Powell and the "majority" of the military as unimpeachable sources of truth?

1441 was good enough for the UN as the results have shown. No condemnation of the invasion in 2003 or even an attempt at one, followed by years of annual approvals of the occupation. There are few military operations that the UN has given more approval to than this one.

There were attempts by the administration to get additional support beyond what they already had, and it is true that much of what they did post November 2002 was try and strengthen Tony Blair politically in Britain where he indeed was having problems. But the majority of the case was made and the resolutions from Congress and the United Nations successfully obtained during the first two months from September to November 2002.

Also, gallup polling has already shown that a majority of the public already supported an invasion to remove Saddam from power prior to 9/11 destroying this myth that the President had to "hype" intelligence in order to get the public to support the war.

The administration presented the information that it thought was important and its only in retrospect given what has so far been found in Iraq, that large numbers of people claim that the administration hyped the threat. Bush's father was accused of hyping the threat as well back in 1990-1991. In fact, there is always some corner of America that accusses whatever administration takes the United States to war of hyping the threat or the need to go to war.


Clarke speaks for himself, not the entire CIA. Same with McClellan. Powell and a number of other officials both inside and outside the administration are far more credible and experienced on the issue than either Clarke or McClellan. The majority of the military from annual polling that has been done have consistently supported both the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as being the strongest source of support for President Bush in general.
 
Scott's a spokesperson who was told to concentrate his responses on certain terms and avoid other aspects when responding to questions about the war. Which directly supports my argument. And of course Clarke is just a person with an axe to grind to you, because he doesn't agree with your assessment.

As to Colin Powell, yes he supports the use of military force. That does not address, however, the administration's selling of the war to the public, or its handling of the war. His chief of staff at the time of his infamous UN speech wrote a book titled "Dead Wrong -- Inside an Intelligence Meltdown", and referring to Powell's speech at the UN, says "I look back on it, and I still say it was the lowest point in my life."

David Kay, the CIA's chief weapon's inspector in Iraq after Saddam fell, says "In fact, Secretary Powell was not told that one of the sources he was given as a source of this information had indeed been flagged by the Defense Intelligence Agency as a liar, a fabricator." (read CNN.com - Former aide:�Powell�WMD speech�'lowest point in my life' - Aug 19, 2005 for more)

And Powell, when asked about his infamous speech to the UN, said "There were some people in the intelligence community who knew at the time that some of these sources were not good, and shouldn't be relied upon, and they didn't speak up." And asked if that speech would tarnish his reputation, "Of course it will. It's a blot. I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and [it] will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now." (from ABC News: Colin Powell on Iraq, Race, and Hurricane Relief)

So while yes, he does ultimately support the war, it's not as if he's perfectly fine with the drum-up to the war as well.

Clarke and his positions did not get the level attention that he felt that it should. He is rather open about having an axe to grind.

Has the United States ever fought a war where there were no mistakes and the intelligence was always perfect? I understand that the left thinks that they can score political points by talking about this piece of intelligence or that piece of intelligence being wrong, but much of the intelligence on the same issues was discovered to be wrong in the First Gulf War, for example that Saddam was 10 years away from a nuclear weapon when in fact he was only 6 months away based on what UN inspectors found after going into Iraq in 1991.

In any event, none of the specific pieces of intelligence that are often brought up as having been incorrect would have changed the ultimate outcome of the vote in congress in October 2002 or the vote in November at the UN in 2002 which is all that was needed to go to war. Both resolutions would have been approved. Saddam's failure to comply, the breakdown of the embargo and sanctions as means of containing him, were more than enough to secure the votes needed in October 2002 and November 2002.

By the way, David Kay is another official who still ultimately supports the removal of Saddam despite the mistakes on intelligence information.
 
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