Contributors

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

A Navy Man, eh?

Regardless of who wins the election this fall, our new president is going to have some great people in the armed services to work with in our current ideological conflict. You may recall a post last November regarding General James Conway, head of the Marines and his desire to transfer troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. After a recent trip to Pakistan earlier this month, Admiral Michael Mullen (left), the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, stated that the "epicenter of terrorism is Pakistan."

I know this doesn't jibe with the extraordinarily delusional fantasy of George Bush, Dick Cheney, and their sub moronic supporters (e.g. right wing radio cocks, most conservative bloggers, and some folks who post here) who are still trapped in the single minded belief that Iraq is our best line of defense. Thank God it doesn't and it makes me feel a whole lot better knowing that there are guys like Admiral Mullen on the job. He has also said:

"There appears to be little political progress in Iraq. " (USA Today).

"If [the Iraqis] aren't making progress in [the political] realm, the prospects for movement in a positive direction are not very good. Failure to achieve tangible progress toward [political] reconciliation requires a strategic reassessment." (testimony before Congress).

Each day, we see more and more military leaders saying that without political efforts...ideological efforts...we will not succeed. This is a hard pill to swallow...especially for the crowd that: a) does not have the intellect to understand how to do this and b) is primarily motivated by fear of the "other" and an insecurity stemming from an inability to accept any sort of diversity. We all know who I am talking about.

People like Admiral Mullen are going to be the ones who are going to assist the next president in actually doing something (possibly not a military something) about the real problem we have...the problem we have always had...which is Al Qaeda. They are in Pakistan, folks. We need to get that part of the world and get there soon...with our ideas, our hearts, and even our troops. It's time to win. It's what I have been saying all along and now I have the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff backing my shit up.

Fuck Yeah.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you post where you found the quote, “There appears to be little political progress in Iraq. " (USA Today)”….because I looked that one up and though I did find it (and maybe I’m reading it wrong) (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-30-us-iraq_N.htm) but the post date on it is 7/31/2007. July 2007. 11 months ago. Is that right?

Also, could you post a link to where you found the “epicenter of terrorism is Pakistan” quote? I Googled about and did find his speech to congress this past February (http://armed-services.senate.gov/statemnt/2008/February/Mullen%2002-06-08.pdf) which says that “the broader Middle East is the epicenter of violent extremism” and he does (in paragraph 17?) mention Pakistan and his (very warranted) concerns. But this must not be what you found because though it also details his concerns about Afghanistan, he talked positively about what is happening in Iraq due to the surge. He mentions over and over that we should stay the course in all theaters of operation. …I kinda trailed off when you got into recruiting goals, etc, but surely I must have found different articles than what you were talking about.

Could you help me out and post those links??

Thanks

Mark Ward said...

The quote from USA today is from 2007. Remember there were very few members of the armed forces that had the courage to say that at the time. He did when it wasn't really in his best interests.

As to the Pakistan quote I read it in the Christian Science Monitor that I get in the mail. Here is a link to what I read..

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0630/p09s02-coop.html

He said it on a trip there earlier this month.