Afghan document dump paints a discouraging picture
I’m on column duty for tomorrow’s newspaper, so I don’t have time to do the topic full justice. It’s already pretty clear, however, the release of more than 90,000 previously secret internal military documents about the war in Afghanistan is likely to echo through the national discussion for weeks if not months.
Based on what I’ve seen so far, the material documents in ground-level detail just how difficult it has been to make lasting progress in just about any endeavor in Afghanistan. Whatever small gain we make today is washed away tomorrow, with little sense that larger goals are within reach.
The Obama administration is understandably downplaying the relevance of the documents, as the Washington Post reports:
White House officials and their allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan sought Monday to play down the political and military impact of the unauthorized release of thousands of classified Afghan war documents, saying they portray a reality on the ground that is already largely known…..
Even as they sought to minimize their significance, senior administration officials acknowledged that they had been anxiously awaiting the long-rumored posting of the documents. “There is not a lot new here for those who have been following developments closely,” one U.S. official said Sunday.
Washington officials are also pointing out that the documents cover a time frame before President Obama’s decision to commit additional manpower and resources to the fight.
“These leaked reports pre-date our new strategy in Afghanistan and should not be used as a measure of success or a determining factor in our continued mission there,” according to Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. “… since these reports were issued, Pakistan has significantly stepped up its fight against the Taliban, including efforts that led to the capture of the highest-ranking member of the Taliban since the start of the war.”
“The documents posted by Wikileaks reportedly cover a period of time from January 2004 to December 2009,” National Security Adviser James Jones responded. “On December 1, 2009, President Obama announced a new strategy with a substantial increase in resources for Afghanistan, and increased focus on al Qaeda and Taliban safe-havens in Pakistan, precisely because of the grave situation that had developed over several years.”
The problem is, there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that things have changed in any fundamental way since Dec. 1, 2009, and so far, the mundane if discouraging details contained in those 90,000 documents make a strong argument that they probably never will.
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481 comments Add your comment
Michelle
July 26th, 2010
9:57 pm
Daddy,
Did josef vote for you?
Scout
July 26th, 2010
9:58 pm
josef:
I read it. What’s with Stone ?
squaw
July 26th, 2010
9:58 pm
To bad Prescott Bush didn’t pull out, his indecisviness unfortunatley led to the worst President in the history of the Union and the unnecessary deaths of many young brave Americans.
Michelle
July 26th, 2010
9:59 pm
Daddy,
Why is Scout interested in 14-year olds?
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
9:59 pm
squaw
May I see your CDIB card?
Scout
July 26th, 2010
9:59 pm
Larry:
Does that make you a “heterophobe” ?
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
10:01 pm
Michelle
Nope, Josef didn’t vote for your daddy and won’t in the future. But he IS my president and a pretty good Daddy, too, I’d say.
popeye
July 26th, 2010
10:01 pm
Josef…I don’t care for that type of language either. I was raised a lot better, respect and all that.
I don’t know what previously was said…Which led to Wendy’s meltdown. But who am I to judge, and anybody who has been blogging with Bookman for awhile knows Scout is about as straight as they come.
Cheers!!!!!
Mick
July 26th, 2010
10:01 pm
josef – where’s the bruin when you need him?
squaw
July 26th, 2010
10:02 pm
nix and scout,
politics makes strange bedfellows, indeed!
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
10:03 pm
Scout
Stone…somebody said he said something about the Jewish controlled media…
Fred
July 26th, 2010
10:04 pm
Mick
July 26th, 2010
9:43 pm
Do we not have a deficit? When my credit card balance starts getting too high you know what I do?
Pay more and reduce the balance. Higher taxes for the wealthiest 2 percent? No problem, right tea partiers who worry so much about the national debt?
+++++++++
Damn Mick, that’s cool. I wish I could get the 2 percenters to pay for MY credit cards like you do. I’d spend like mad and then get THEM to pay. I mean they are RICH so what does it matter? They can pay my bills……….
Here’s your sign.
Mick
July 26th, 2010
10:05 pm
Who cares what oliver stone says anyway? Platoon? great movie. JFK? Complete and utter garbage.
Bruno
July 26th, 2010
10:07 pm
Howdy gang–Job interview went well for me. If all goes well, I may be moving to Columbus. I spent a few hours riding around the city this afternoon, and kind of liked the place.
I think I sealed the deal when I noticed that the owner was in the same fraternity in college that I was. When I laid the “secret handshake” on him, he was grinning from ear to ear.
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
10:08 pm
To she were I to use her tag I’d be sleeping on the couch tonight…
Scout and I can actually dialogue…though few may have noticed this, but I have…he has refrained from using the derogatory terms he used earlier…in other words, he has recognized that they may indeed “hurt” …strange bedfellows? NOT me and Scout, let me assure you! Not politically or otherwise…we just agree that with a little respect you CAN cross the divide…
Mick
July 26th, 2010
10:08 pm
Fred, are you looney from the moon? Where did I say that I get the 2 percenters to pay my bills? Me. myself and I pay MY bills. Sorry, no sympathy if their tax bill rises a whopping 3 percent!!!!
theyeshaveit
July 26th, 2010
10:09 pm
Scout said Daddy, why didn’t President Clinton kill Bin Laden when he had him ?
Scout, come on, tell the truth, man.
Here is the truth. Listen to Clinton on Fox.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0LUZrvUKfU
Michelle
July 26th, 2010
10:10 pm
Daddy,
Why do Republicans want people who just barely survive on social security to give up their money so rich people can have their Bush tax break made permanent.
popeye
July 26th, 2010
10:10 pm
Bruno…..The only thing I liked about Columbus was the officers club at Benning….A true Antebellum structure with an outdoor veranda to drink, eat and be merry.
Miss Behaving
July 26th, 2010
10:11 pm
They’ve had tax breaks for the past 10 years……where are all the jobs that were promised to us? What happened to that “trickle down” Dumbya said would come? The only trickle I’ve seen was the pi$$ that Cheney et al, have been skeeting in our faces. Dick Cheney should pay more taxes!!! Bush should pay more taxes!!! Dumb a$$ Limbaugh should DEFINITELY pay more taxes!!!
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
10:11 pm
Bruno
Mazel Tov! Columbus is not a bad place at all…I think you’ll Like they say, it’s always darkest before the dawn…
Bruno
July 26th, 2010
10:11 pm
I didn’t read all of the earlier comments, but was curious to know if anyone here believes we still have a legitimate mission in Afghanistan. The consensus a few months ago seemed to be that we should have handled it as a “special force” operation rather than an occupation.
For the record, I supported the Iraq invasion if only on humanitarian grounds to get rid of Hussein. If we can possibly help sow the seeds of a democracy in that God-forsaken part of the world, it might be worth it all in the end. (I still say “might” because the loss of human life was pretty high for both sides.)
Mick
July 26th, 2010
10:12 pm
Josef – I may disagree with him but scout is an honorable man who complete’s the mission. I’d want him on my team any day of the week.
@@
July 26th, 2010
10:13 pm
Gee Debbie. Why so personal?
Betsy who? Friend of yours? I’d “love” to meet her someday.
It is time to turn the page. When I am President, we will wage the war that has to be won, with a comprehensive strategy with five elements: getting out of Iraq and on to the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan; developing the capabilities and partnerships we need to take out the terrorists and the world’s most deadly weapons; engaging the world to dry up support for terror and extremism; restoring our values; and securing a more resilient homeland.
http://www.barackobama.com/2007/08/01/the_war_we_need_to_win.php
Take note of the the part where he says “When I am President.”
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
10:14 pm
Mick
I care what Stone says…he has a “following” and I’m interested in IF he did say that. His films? Pretty good filmmaker and Mel Gibson is a pretty good actor, too…but…
theyeshaveit
July 26th, 2010
10:14 pm
Josef,
On your words regarding Scout – Amen.
md
July 26th, 2010
10:14 pm
“Because if you mean THOSE two sentences, then you need to hone up on those reading comprehension skills. The UN didn’t stand in the way of George HERBERT, his prior knowledge of what would happen did. If you meant two OTHER sentences, please point them out…….”
Gee Fred, can you show where the UN mandate allowed for the removal of Saddam??
Try this for reading comprehension:
“Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations’ mandate”
GHWB own words………………………………………..
Fred
July 26th, 2010
10:17 pm
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
9:54 pm
I am a lefty–I just don’t feel obligated to go by the party line because someone else says it’s the party line
++++++++++++
And so we begin to open your mind. Come to the light side my padawan………… free your mind from “lefties” and righties” just seek the truth. The truth will set you free. You are in the closet. You are an independent but not yet ready to make that leap out of the closet………….. You seek the truth you NEED the truth. The truth wants to consume you but you won’t let it. Feel the force Luke………
Bruno
July 26th, 2010
10:17 pm
“A true Antebellum structure with an outdoor veranda to drink, eat and be merry.”
I really liked the historic downtown section, popeye. The weather there is about 5 degrees warmer than Atlanta year-round, so June, July, and August are typically brutal. Of course, you get a make-up in Dec, Jan and Feb when the daytime highs reach into the 60s.
“Like they say, it’s always darkest before the dawn…”
josef–I hope you’re right. I sincerely believe I have a lot to offer an employer–I’m a hard worker, am very loyal and very dependable. In more than 38 years in the work force, i’ve only missed 3 days due to illness.
squaw
July 26th, 2010
10:18 pm
Gomer Pyle is the Rosa Parks of DADT!
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
10:18 pm
Mick
Thanks for the vote for Scout…he’s a Mensch…and I’ll say this, I don’t have to look over my shoulder or second guess him…he means me no personal harm and will defend my right to stand up and speak out even if I DO disagree with him up one side and down the other…
Brett
July 26th, 2010
10:20 pm
The Repug Never-Serveds learned nothing from Vietnam or Russia. “Send in the troops!!!” Because they never ARE the troops. It’s all been utterly predictable long before the first stupid shot was ever fired.
Another memory from the cowardly BushDrunks.
Mick
July 26th, 2010
10:21 pm
Bruno
One note of caution. I moved to a small town in florida once and thought it was great. I found a really nice house to rent with 4 bedrooms at an unbelievable price. The first night I moved in around 2am the house started rumbling then literally shaking and I realized that there was a train coming. The next day as I explored the neighborhood, sure enough on the other side of a large thicket were the hidden train tracks. The whole week was a bummer cause at 2am the train was a roarin.. Epilogue, after that first week, I never heard that train again. The mind can do wonderous things when it needs to, just do your homework before settlin in.
md
July 26th, 2010
10:21 pm
Mick,
In reference to JFK – ever wonder why Clinton couldn’t release all the documents even after he said he would?? Do a little research on it – he did release quite a bit, but still held some back because of “National security”.
Hmmm…………………
theyeshaveit
July 26th, 2010
10:21 pm
Bruno,
I did support the first Iraq war, but not the second. I never believed Colin Powell even if he believed himself as he pointed to “evidence” of WMDs before UN Security Council representatives. As for Afghanistan, if the reason we are there is to get bin Laden, I think that we have missed the window on that. Now, we are descending deeper into the quagmire that is Afghanistan and it feels like Vietnamese quicksand to me.
larry
July 26th, 2010
10:24 pm
squaw,
I’d go with Klinger
md
July 26th, 2010
10:25 pm
“In more than 38 years in the work force, i’ve only missed 3 days due to illness.”
Bruno – you one of those that comes to work sick and gives it to everybody else, which in turn causes everybody else to be out but you never miss a day??
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
10:25 pm
Fred
I’m a lefty by perspective and a liberal by philosophical outlook…those are my “starting points” in my search for “truth.” I just don’t expect the truth that may be revealed to be in conformity with the latest memo…
dan
July 26th, 2010
10:25 pm
neocons love tax cuts for the rich and wars for the poor…
Bruno
July 26th, 2010
10:26 pm
“I don’t have to look over my shoulder or second guess him…he means me no personal harm and will defend my right to stand up and speak out even if I DO disagree with him up one side and down the other…”
josef–I have to admit that I’ve gotten mad at Scout on your behalf due to his anti-gay comments. But if you are okay with it…..
I wonder if Scout would feel differently if he accepted that homosexuality IS genetic in origin. I know that for a fact due to the personal experience of growing up with a gay sister. If homosexuality was due to environment alone, then my other three sisters should be gay, having grown up in the exact same environment. By age 6, I knew that my one sister was “different” from the others, although I couldn’t identify how until much later.
md
July 26th, 2010
10:27 pm
“The evidence that he did not have a working arsenal of WMDs is two-fold: he didn’t use any, and none have ever been found.”
Didn’t use any??
Ask the Kurds if he didn’t use any…………………….
theyeshaveit
July 26th, 2010
10:27 pm
Fred,
One need not be an “Independent” to think independently. Whether on the right or the left, one has the intellectual and moral freedom to produce his own thoughts and opinions independently of the party line. I am strongly pro-Obama (although I preferred Hillary) but I am getting tired of this Afghanistan war.
Bruno
July 26th, 2010
10:29 pm
“The mind can do wonderous things when it needs to, just do your homework before settlin in.”
I appreciate the good advice, Mick. If I do get the job, my plan would be to rent for a year before purchasing a home.
“Bruno – you one of those that comes to work sick and gives it to everybody else, which in turn causes everybody else to be out but you never miss a day??”
LOL–Lucky I don’t believe in the “germ theory” of disease, md. It’s all about our resistance….
popeye
July 26th, 2010
10:29 pm
“Thanks for the vote for Scout…he’s a Mensch…and I’ll say this, I don’t have to look over my shoulder or second guess him…he means me no personal harm and will defend my right to stand up and speak out even if I DO disagree with him up one side and down the other…”
Excuse me while I run off to get my kleenex to wipe away my tears.
Are you kidding me he means me no personal harm and will defend my right to stand up and speak out even if I DO disagree with him up one side and down the other…”
and will defend my right to stand up and speak out even if I DO disagree with him up one side and down the other…”
How is that done? “he means me no personal harm and will defend my right to stand up and speak out even if I DO disagree with him up one side and down the other…” Is he now your personal bodyguard equipped with all the newest armament.
Scout is just another blogger just like you josef … you folks are cordial and have a good dialog, but with the above statement me thinks you are off the reservation!
RW-(the original)
July 26th, 2010
10:29 pm
josef,
Oliver Stone: Our Jewish-dominated media sure does focus a lot on the Holocaust
In case nobody else has linked you to it.
Fred
July 26th, 2010
10:29 pm
md
July 26th, 2010
10:14 pm
“Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations’ mandate”
GHWB own words
+++++++++++
Post a link please. I was rather “engaged” as it were during that conflict. WHile I was probing minefields, we didn’t get all the sound bites form CNN. When I was clearing trenches, they weren’t quoting the Washington Times. The little holes in the sand I dug each night to sleep in didn’t have cable or satellite TV’s. I participated in the war you watched on TV. Were you there or watching when my team got shot up and some of them died? Was there footage of the C-130 burning in killing the whole team that were our buddies? If so, was it fun to watch? Get your dick hard and all that? President George Herbert Bush wasn’t on our net so I don’t know all the things he said.
Did you ever wonder who held those laser designators on the targets in Iraq that you saw blow up on your TV? I never wondered that…………..
Mick
July 26th, 2010
10:32 pm
**Ask the Kurds if he didn’t use any**
Ask the kurds who gave it to him.
As for JFK, stone ripped off a much better movie called executive action starring burt lancaster.
theyeshaveit
July 26th, 2010
10:33 pm
Bruno said LOL–Lucky I don’t believe in the “germ theory” of disease, md. It’s all about our resistance….
Bruno, I worked for a Japanese company for almost elven years. Then as now, I very seldom took sick days. But one day at work when it was pretty obvious that I was sick and spreading germs, the president of the company went out to a Japanese drug store and came back and handed me two white medical masks and said, “Put it on.”
md
July 26th, 2010
10:33 pm
Gee Fred, sounds like you got a personal problem.
Here is what you do – copy the quote I posted into that there computer you are sitting at and see what pops up. Google is your friend.
DebbieDoRight Esq.
July 26th, 2010
10:34 pm
@@: Take note of the the part where he says “When I am President.”
Take note that he didn’t say HE WILL WIN THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN nor did he make a promise to do so. He said the war MUST be won, big difference.
RW-(the original)
July 26th, 2010
10:34 pm
So I guess it’s down to the Padres and the Mets as the only teams to never throw a no hitter.
Congrats Matt Garza and I ain’t buying for a second that BS about you not knowing you had a no hitter going until you looked at the scoreboard in the 9th.
Del
July 26th, 2010
10:35 pm
Bruno,
The only way we could even have a chance of prevailing is to go in with as much overwhelming force as we could muster, invoking extreme occupation law that included on the spot executions and imprisonment of anyone at any time. Not unlike Hitler’s Germany, the empire of Japan, Communist Russia, Red China, North Korea, North Vietnam, etc. etc. We aren’t that ruthless as a nation nor do I believe we should become that way, so we’re far better off concentrating on how to defend ourselves from such regimes and worry less about how we might convert them to our way of thinking. God is in charge of this depraved world and we’re not God.
Fred
July 26th, 2010
10:35 pm
Thanks for the link RW. While it IS true that 20 million Russians died in WWII, those stats taken with the holocaust are WAY out of line. How many Russians did Stalin kill or have killed himself. I get sick in the heart when I read or hear or see ANYONE who tries to excuse or deny the holocaust.
How can one even BEGIN to “humanize” Hitler? Oh, I forgot, he got the trains running on time…………..
Bruno
July 26th, 2010
10:35 pm
Some of the strongest evidence that one’s sexual orientation is biological and not chosen comes from studies in which nude images of men and women are flashed on a screen in rapid-fire fashion and the differing physiological reactions are noted among the audience members. To me, involuntary dilation of the pupils can’t be “chosen”.
dan
July 26th, 2010
10:37 pm
i love scoot’s “don’t ask, don’t tail jokes” they never get old.
md
July 26th, 2010
10:37 pm
“Ask the kurds who gave it to him.”
I don’t believe the question was “who gave it to him”, but “did he have any”.
As for the first part, if one knows that – why ask whether he had any………..
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
10:38 pm
popeye
You ARE aware, are you not, that “off the reservation” is highly offensive to many American Indians?
And, yes, it has taken time and patience, but we have reached an entente…his “problems” with homosexuality are religious in origin and expression…I disagree and subscribe to a different set of religious beliefs…he no doubt believes I’ll fry in hell, but he leaves that to his G-d and judgment day and is not out to do me in in this lifetime…I’d much rather have that than someone who says one thing and does another…like she who’s name I can’t use who, quite frankly, is far more hateful and far more dangerous than a thousand Scouts…
My personal bodyguard? Yep. That’s about the size of it…
Bruno
July 26th, 2010
10:38 pm
Hey, DDR, Esquire!!!! I’ve been missing you.
Here’s a sexy, sexy song dedicated to you, “Inside My Love” by Minnie Riperton.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1aMSZp_WHc
Play this one about 10 minutes before Dudley gets home–he’ll thank me later!!! (Not that you needed any help…….LOL).
larry
July 26th, 2010
10:39 pm
“God is in charge of this depraved world and we’re not God.” Man he must be one sick prick.
@@
July 26th, 2010
10:40 pm
Debbie:
Now you’re just nitpicking. So what…he’s gonna take on a war that he can’t win. Take that up with Del.
This is the part I originally commented on:
getting out of Iraq and on to the right battlefield in Afghanistan
A battlefield is where a war is waged. Afghanistan is the right battlefield…the right war.
Mick
July 26th, 2010
10:41 pm
Poison gas was used in ww2, most nations outlawed or disavowed using it. Still, having such a weapon not a sufficient reason to invade a sovereign country.
RW-(the original)
July 26th, 2010
10:41 pm
Mick,
Even if we sold the precursor chemicals to Iraq they weren’t in a neat little “gas the Kurds” package. They figured out how to weaponize and deliver them and anybody that cares about facts can look up the results of their efforts.
DebbieDoRight Esq.
July 26th, 2010
10:43 pm
Fred: I get sick in the heart when I read or hear or see ANYONE who tries to excuse or deny the holocaust.
I’ve been to Auscwhitz and I’ve been to the Holocaust Museum – I’ve also spoken to a friend of my aunt’s in Miami whose mother and father were children and were kept in Concentration Camps and watched their father, mother, and siblings die. This lady’s mother made a video recording and on it she spoke about the atrocities that she saw FIRST HAND. The person who can deny that this happened and/or belittle it in any way, you need to watch that person. This is a person with out morals or conscience or empathy for human kind. And they reproduce to spread their disease on to their whelps.
Bruno: To me, involuntary dilation of the pupils can’t be “chosen”.
It always amazes me when someone asks one of my sis-in-laws about how they “chose” to be gay! It’s amazing because no one has ever asked me why I “chose” to be straight!! People, if they really look and listen to the things that they say and do, are really quite strange when you thin about it……
Bruno
July 26th, 2010
10:45 pm
“As for Afghanistan, if the reason we are there is to get bin Laden, I think that we have missed the window on that. Now, we are descending deeper into the quagmire that is Afghanistan and it feels like Vietnamese quicksand to me.”
As a decidedly military NON-expert, that’s how it looks to me also, eyes.
“The only way we could even have a chance of prevailing is to go in with as much overwhelming force as we could muster, invoking extreme occupation law that included on the spot executions and imprisonment of anyone at any time.”
Del–Which would be quite a hollow “victory”. Thannks for the input.
Mick
July 26th, 2010
10:45 pm
The truth of the matter is that we had saddam boxed in; war in this case was not justified.
DebbieDoRight Esq.
July 26th, 2010
10:46 pm
@@ No I’m not. Del made the point that CANDIDATE Obama said he’d win the war — your last post proved that he never said that. You may call it “nitpicking” I call it facts.
@@: This is the part I originally commented on: getting out of Iraq and on to the right battlefield in Afghanistan A battlefield is where a war is waged. Afghanistan is the right battlefield…the right war.
We were already ON the battlefield in Afghanistan. What’s your point?
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
10:46 pm
RW
It may not be the most appropriate word given the context, but thanks for the link. This has disturbed me greatly. I had to back off on the comments section. This nouveau anti-semitism is gaining “respectability” and that scares the ever loving sh*t out of me…
RW-(the original)
July 26th, 2010
10:49 pm
josef,
I just grabbed a link that went to the story. I wasn’t really endorsing the take the Hot Air readers might have on the story, but that site is meticulous about linking to source material or to other bloggers that are providing the source material.
Mick
July 26th, 2010
10:50 pm
josef – the cubans in miami hate oliver stone because he has done numerous interviews with that mad genius el jefe fidel castro, so you have some company, since you favor the juajidos…
popeye
July 26th, 2010
10:53 pm
Well, Joseph it’s cool that scout has overcome his homophobia, Myself I’ve never had a problem with ones sexuality.
To me it’s live and let live….No questions asked.
And to his religion…precisely why I am an atheist…the bullcrap the religious spew, and actually believe. But, that’s not my problem or area of expertise.
And as far as off the reservation goes….I’m one of the biggest proponents of Indian rights…I donate a lot of money twice a year to St Joseph’s Indian School and the Lakota children. I also used to fly for the BLM in support of the BIA.
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
10:56 pm
I will go to the gay question…I’m amused that anybody would think you’d “choose” this! I may have a martyr complex, but it doesn’t go THAT far!
Like I said, were I in the choice bidness, I’d be opting for a straight, male, blonde blue-eyed upper middle class heterosexual Swede!
wendy
July 26th, 2010
10:57 pm
joseph,
your ok with scout’s homophobia in the name of his religion, if someone uses their religion to justify anti-semitism will you give them a big blog squeezy as well…
theyeshaveit
July 26th, 2010
10:57 pm
popeye,
Speaking of phobias….I saw that one man was arrested for stabbing another man in the eye with a ball point pen. The venue – the Comic Book Convention in San Diego. The reason – one man thought the other was sitting too close to him.
RW-(the original)
July 26th, 2010
10:57 pm
“He’s my father,” Rory said of Harry. “Not my political mentor.”
OK, that’s laugh out loud funny, but the funnier part is looking at that picture that claims the guy is only 47.
DebbieDoRight Esq.
July 26th, 2010
10:57 pm
Bruno: Hey Debbie
Hey Bruno!! LOVED the song!! You always pick out such great music!! However, now, that I’ve discovered Minnie through you, i have to go on Amazon and buy everything she’s ever made. sigh. I keep trying to get out, but you keep pulling me back in!!!
Play this one about 10 minutes before Dudley gets home–he’ll thank me later!!! (Not that you needed any help…….LOL).
Yep. Ole Dudley will be outta gas if I get even MORE inspired!
Del
July 26th, 2010
10:58 pm
DebbieDo,
Candidate Obama said that Afghanistan was the war against A.Q. that we needed to win and the one he would prosecute as president. Now you can deny that all you wish but you can’t make it go away.Nice try though.
Bruno
July 26th, 2010
11:00 pm
“The truth of the matter is that we had saddam boxed in; war in this case was not justified.”
If that is the case, Mick, then I assume you believe we had no business in Bosnia as well?? Nor in Rwanda???
Maybe I’m being too idealistic, but some human atrocities deserve a military response from the US since we are the defacto “world police”.
popeye
July 26th, 2010
11:00 pm
eyes…Your 10:57 Haven’t seen much of Scout tonight …Do you suppose?
Mick
July 26th, 2010
11:02 pm
RW-(the original)
Thanks for the rory story, a much needed dose of humor.
Bruno
July 26th, 2010
11:05 pm
“Yep. Ole Dudley will be outta gas if I get even MORE inspired!”
LMFAO–Somehow, someway, I’ve ended up dating a lot of women like you. If anyone’s saying “Not tonight, honey, I’m too tired”, it’s usually me.
“However, now, that I’ve discovered Minnie through you, i have to go on Amazon and buy everything she’s ever made.”
Minnie’s primarily famous for the song “Loving You”, but another great one she sang was “Back Down Memory Lane” which she sang while in the terminal stages of cancer. If you listen closely, you can hear the pleading in her voice near the end:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z7MaFE-uRQ
Mick
July 26th, 2010
11:05 pm
**since we are the defacto “world police”.**
I am an avowed isolationist and adhere to george washington’s sage advice, “beware of foreign entanglements”. The drain of blood and treasure has been the downfall of many an empire.
RW-(the original)
July 26th, 2010
11:05 pm
Mick,
I can’t wait for the story when Rory endorses Sharron.
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
11:06 pm
Mick
Touche!
@ 10:50
RW
No, really, I do appreciate the link…I know you weren’t endorsing the comments…it was them and not the article that scared me…
popeye
Still, though, that “off the reservation” is to many highly offensive…I’m not doubting your commitment, I’m just saying there’s a world of difference between being beneficiary of that “charity” and the benefactor…I’m not trying to start a fracas, but it’s very akin to “we were good to our n*gras” when you’re on the receiving end of “off the reservation…”
This is what I was saying about Scout…with me at least, he has come to an understanding of what the gay equivalent of “off the reservation” is…and that means more to me, at least, than all of his other protestations about his good deeds toward “those people,” me in his case being “those people.”
RW-(the original)
July 26th, 2010
11:09 pm
Let’s go Kansas City. All you need is 19 to tie or 20 to win in the bottom of the 9th.
DebbieDoRight Esq.
July 26th, 2010
11:10 pm
josef: Like I said, were I in the choice bidness, I’d be opting for a straight, male, blonde blue-eyed upper middle class heterosexual Swede!
I’d choose to be Pam Grier’s sister or maybe Tamra Dobson’s (since she was 6′2 like me). I’d also choose to have Pamela Anderson’s breasts (cup size like hers), Tina Turner’s legs, Bruce Lee’s fighting skills and Bill Gates’ acumen and money. If you gotta choose, choose big!
Del
July 26th, 2010
11:10 pm
Comm check and to say Taps to everyone.
RW-(the original)
July 26th, 2010
11:10 pm
Make that 18 to tie now….
@@
July 26th, 2010
11:11 pm
Debbie:
My point? As far as I’m concerned, we completed our mission in Afghanistan. We isolated Bin Laden. His operation isn’t functioning too well in case you haven’t noticed.
The left’s complaint was that we weren’t in with a sufficient number of forces. All it would take to insure success was to up the numbers. Obama said it. His supporters said it. It was the right war, the just war.
Obama’s surge is gonna make Iraq look like a cakewalk.
Obama has exceeded Bush’s number of deployed troops by 5 times. For every one, Bush put at risk, Obama put four more.
The Karzai government is corrupt and the area vast. Only 17% of the population supports our being there. Since Obama announced an exit date, the population has no interest in helping our troops like the people of Iraq did. They’re gonna side with the Taliban because that’s who they’ll be dealing when the exit date rolls around. It’s a matter of survival.
Bruno
July 26th, 2010
11:11 pm
“I am an avowed isolationist and adhere to george washington’s sage advice, “beware of foreign entanglements”. The drain of blood and treasure has been the downfall of many an empire.”
I hear you, Mick, but I think the days in which it was even possible to pursue an isolationist policy have long past. It’s one world now, and we can’t keep our heads in the sand. Of course, the saying “Discretion is the better part of valor” still applies.
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
11:12 pm
wendy
It depends…Scout’s religious beliefs also are that I’ll fry in hell as a Jew who doesn’t accept the Christ as the Messiah…that’s for judgment day, in his beliefs, and poses me no personal threat…you, on the other hand, threw out terms that are highly offensive and meant to insult and damn in earthly terms…you are far more dangerous to me than Scout…you want division…
Scout
July 26th, 2010
11:14 pm
Well, at least everyone is thinking of me tonight.
A real friend speaks the truth.
@@
July 26th, 2010
11:14 pm
Debbie:
I’m off to bed so any response you have for me won’t be read. I’m not one to play blog catch-up the following day.
DebbieDoRight Esq.
July 26th, 2010
11:14 pm
del: DebbieDo, Candidate Obama said that Afghanistan was the war against A.Q. that we needed to win and the one he would prosecute as president. Now you can deny that all you wish but you can’t make it go away.Nice try though.
Yes the one WE needed to win. He was NOT guaranteeing that HE WOULD WIN IT!! I’m sorry that you can’t see the difference in that.
Bruno: that was beautiful!……. Oh NO!! Here I go again, getting out my credit card, logging on to Amazon. Must stop…..must stop………….
popeye
July 26th, 2010
11:15 pm
okay Josef, if I offended anyone by my insensitive remark I sincerely apologize….I am not a racist nor a homophobe or anti-sementic.
I meant no harm with the statement, and did not realize in certain quarters my statement would be highly offensive.
Mick
July 26th, 2010
11:16 pm
bruno
In our personal lives it is always good advice to choose our battles carefully. So should it be on the world stage. To me, iraq was a mistake, compounded by the law of unintended consequences.
Scout
July 26th, 2010
11:17 pm
popeye:
Have you ever heard of a man named Saul ?
Mick
July 26th, 2010
11:19 pm
Off the reservation? Jeesh are we getting a little thin skinned around here?
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
11:19 pm
DDR
Hey, I like that! I’ll go for Bill Gates on money, and Tina’s talent. I’d want to speak English with James Earl Jones’ voice and have Antonio Banderas’ sex appeal and, okay, mark this one down
Barack Obama’s sense of self irony…oh, yeah, and Paul Newman’s eyes!!
DebbieDoRight Esq.
July 26th, 2010
11:21 pm
@@: Debbie: My point? As far as I’m concerned, we completed our mission in Afghanistan. We isolated Bin Laden. His operation isn’t functioning too well in case you haven’t noticed.
If you truly believed that we completed our mission in Afghanistan you are more far gone than even I realized. Good night @@ sweet dreams.
Since @@ is gone I’m out myself – my mother is calling me to get her a glass of water; (apparently you never grow up when your mother is around, just revert back to childhood with one stern look or phrase), as much as I love my mother, i’m going to call my dad tmw and ask him to order her back to Seattle. There’s only so much mothering you can take after you turn 18………….
Night All.
josef nix
July 26th, 2010
11:22 pm
mick and popeye
Think about it a minute…what do you think “off the reservation” sounds like to somebody who has spent a lifetime fighting the feather growing savage stereotype?