Watching Iraq from our rear-view mirror
NOTE: This post, a copy of today’s AJC column, includes material published earlier on the blog.
Eight years ago this week, the Bush administration was set to launch an all-out “shock and awe” publicity campaign designed to drive us into war in Iraq. (You may recall that the effort was held back until after Labor Day because, as a White House official later explained, “from a marketing point of view, you don’t introduce new products in August.”)
It’s important that the American people remember that campaign, because it reminds us how easily fear can be used to manipulate public opinion. Dire warnings of mushroom clouds rising over American cities and of Iraqi unmanned aerial vehicles launching WMD attacks against us may seem implausible in hindsight, but coming from top U.S. officials, they seemed all too real. Over the next few months, they frightened the American people and Congress into an ill-conceived invasion that would cost more than 4,000 American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars.
Tonight, President Obama is scheduled to go on national television to announce that the U.S. combat role in Iraq has finally ended. Although 50,000 troops remain, they are no longer actively deployed in support of Iraqi security. In fact, in his radio address Saturday, Obama reiterated his pledge that “by the end of next year, all of our troops will be home.”
The most interesting thing about the president’s speech tonight will be its tone. As he did Saturday, Obama will no doubt offer a well-deserved tribute to the more than a million Americans who have served in uniform in Iraq. He is also certain to note that the drawdown honors his 2008 campaign pledge. (It’s hard to give him a lot of credit for that, though, since the withdrawal schedule was largely set by President Bush.)
In a speech last week to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vice President Joe Biden was largely upbeat about the situation in Iraq, noting that violence has decreased from three or four years ago and that Iraqi security forces now have responsibility for defending their country. Biden also claimed that “Iraqi leaders who once settled disputes through violence are at this very moment ironing out their differences in face-to-face negotiations,” predicting that those negotiations will soon produce a new Iraqi government.
I wish I shared Biden’s optimism, but I don’t. While the 2007 surge of U.S. troops succeeded in halting the unraveling of Iraq, the larger goals of the surge remain unmet. The Iraqis have yet to enact an oil law to fairly distribute the proceeds of their national wealth, and they have yet to work out how to share power among their major sects. As a result, more than five months after national elections in March, no new national government has taken shape.
And without progress, there will be regression. Although it remains below peak levels, violence has begun to increase again, and the Iraqi people appear increasingly discouraged about the prospects of democracy actually functioning. Each week without an elected government moves them closer to reverting to cruder, more familiar forms of authority.
For all those reasons and more, I suspect that Obama will be more careful than Biden in expressing his expectations about Iraq’s future. At best, he could argue that the U.S. military mission in Iraq has been a success, but he cannot claim that the war itself has been won.
In fact, the Iraq war is likely to end as the war in Vietnam ended. That doesn’t mean that the last Americans in Baghdad will have to be airlifted by helicopter from the Green Zone. It does mean that as in Vietnam, events in Iraq have now been arranged to allow U.S. forces to be withdrawn under seemingly honorable conditions, leaving Iraq’s future to be determined by Iraqis.
As it should have been all along.
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305 comments Add your comment
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
9:26 am
Bruno – “Then, in other posts, you express great certainty that your own place has already been reserved”
he evidently has a fantastic concierge service …
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
9:27 am
oooo … 1th on the 2th …
Union
August 31st, 2010
9:27 am
amvet.. why are you bringing jimmy carter up?
Doggone/GA
August 31st, 2010
9:27 am
“Do you have a special line of communication with the Creator that none of the rest of us has?? ”
Didn’t you know? Scout IS God. In a past blog we were having some fun at his expense and his response was “God will not be mocked”
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
August 31st, 2010
9:27 am
I would imagine this person if one of the “endangered of losing her job” candidates in November.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson awarded eight scholarships last year to her grandsons and a top aide’s children – bringing to 23 the number of awards she handed out since 2005 in violation of Congressional Black Caucus Foundation eligibility rules.
“The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday that over the last five years, the Dallas Democrat has awarded up to $20,000 in 15 scholarships to two grandsons, two great-nephews, and aide Rod Givens’ children between 2005 and 2008. The 2009 awards – reflected in a previously undisclosed list provided Monday by the foundation – push that above $25,000. “
jconservative
August 31st, 2010
9:28 am
It is OK for the USA to spend 4,421 American lives and 33,000 American wounded & $709 billion American taxpayer dollars to build a nation for Muslims, but it is not OK to let Muslims build a community center in NYC with their own money.
Have I got this right?
AmVet
August 31st, 2010
9:29 am
Union, do you need more ESL classes? It would certainly appear so.
Union
August 31st, 2010
9:29 am
spread the money around.. lol
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
August 31st, 2010
9:29 am
Whoa, this almost deserves an “end of times” post.
“EU MILITARY: Britain, France preparing to share aircraft carriers… “
Union
August 31st, 2010
9:31 am
amvet.. stop cussing at me
Doggone/GA
August 31st, 2010
9:31 am
“Have I got this right?”
Sounds pretty much accurate to me.
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
9:31 am
Mike Luckovich! Wow. If he still had his blog going, the wingnuts would be a howling this AM.
Bruno
August 31st, 2010
9:32 am
“In a past blog we were having some fun at his expense and his response was “God will not be mocked”
Doggone–That reminds me of a hellfire-and-brimstone Baptist service I attended a few years back. After the preacher had thrown down, the congregation seemed a little psychologically beat up. In response, the preacher stated “I’m not saying this, God did”. Yet when I looked toward the pulpit, I didn’t see God standing there, I saw the preacher. Megalomania at its worst.
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
9:33 am
jconservative,
AND, the kicker is that we pay for all their healthcare too. Or at least we did.
Left wing management
August 31st, 2010
9:33 am
USinUK, Mick: there was a little piece just yesterday in the Financial Times attempting a defense of Tony Blair, that other former UK leader much loathed in the UK, but not so much in the US.
“… Vitriol has been poured on to Mr Blair from both the left and the right. Tony Parsons, writing in the left-leaning Mirror newspaper, suggested that “Tony Blair should amputate a limb and give that to the British Legion”, adding that “boys will be in wheelchairs for the rest of their lives because of this pious, Bible-bashing hypocrite”. Writing in the rightwing Daily Mail, Max Hastings suggested that “Blair’s £5m gift is designed to make himself feel better”, and noted “there is a long tradition of big crooks giving big to charity”.
Perhaps it is this kind of reaction that persuaded Mr Blair to fly to the US on the day of his book launch, for a dinner at the White House, linked to the Middle East peace talks. It is one of the oddities of modern British politics that the two dominant figures of the past 30 years – Mr Blair and Lady Thatcher, the Conservative former prime minister – have both ended up far more revered in the US than in the UK. Both were accused by their enemies in Britain of succumbing to megalomania. Both exhibited a kind of moral fervour and certainty that goes over well in the US, but seems to alienate British commentators, who prefer their leaders dry, with a twist of irony.”
The rest can be read at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8088400c-b460-11df-8208-00144feabdc0.html
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
9:34 am
““God will not be mocked””
which is kinda ironic, considering that particular brand of Christian seems to have no problems with cartoons mocking Mohommad …
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
August 31st, 2010
9:34 am
Bruno
August 31st, 2010
9:32 am
Sounds kind of like an Obama speech I once heard.
Union
August 31st, 2010
9:35 am
nimby
Hootinanny Yum Yum
August 31st, 2010
9:35 am
From AJC, “Soldier from Coweta County killed in Afghanistan”.
What’s happened to Code Pink? Where’s Cindy Sheehan?
That’s right. It’s Obama’s war now…
My prayers and heartfelt tears go to the family of this fine young man. May God grant you peace.
Capt, USAF (Retired)
JohnnyReb
August 31st, 2010
9:35 am
“Obama reiterated his pledge that “by the end of next year, all of our troops will be home.”
What an idiotic policy. We invest all those sacred lives and billions of dollars and it’s more important to safisfy the Left political base than to protect the investment.
Iraqi’s should determine their destiny, but the USA should guide their choices by keeping a formidable military presence.
Doggone/GA
August 31st, 2010
9:35 am
“Megalomania at its worst.”
Or funniest. In the case of Scout, it was more funny than anything else
Paul
August 31st, 2010
9:35 am
jconservative
“It is OK for the USA to spend…$709 billion American taxpayer dollars to build a nation for Muslims”
That was done in another country with foreign (American) dollars..
Are you saying the community center is the same – done in another country (America) with (foreign) Muslim money?
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
9:35 am
“who prefer their leaders dry, with a twist of irony.”
I’m suddenly in the mood for a martini.
Donovan
August 31st, 2010
9:35 am
Publicity stunt? Ill conceived invasion? Exactly who was that White House spokesman, Jay? I see that you are still carrying on those moronic Democrat talking points. I do believe that we did something over there that the world was too damn timid to do as a collective effort. And that was to liberate those wretched people from a psychopathic dictator who also fooled the entire world that he had the WMD. Unfortunately, Muslims being Muslims, involved us in defending the good ones against the bad ones. In hindsight, had we known that any difficulties ensued in the courageous effort would trigger the unpatriotic rejections of the Democrat Party, we would have turned a blind eye to the perpetual slaughter of the Iraqi people. Now that we are leaving those people with some form of democratic government, you Democrats can struggle with the same problems of Islamic chaos in Afghanistan. Enjoy!
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
9:36 am
“have both ended up far more revered in the US than in the UK”
the US hasn’t had to live with their policies … the UK has …
Doggone/GA
August 31st, 2010
9:37 am
“which is kinda ironic, considering that particular brand of Christian seems to have no problems with cartoons mocking Mohommad”
and if you’re critical of them, they generally come back with something like “how would you feel if it was Jesus?” – but they aren’t so happy with MY response that Jesus is a big boy, if he’s annoyed he’ll deal with it.
Paul
August 31st, 2010
9:38 am
Bosch
LOL!
Now, time to bring some balance to the Force:
http://www.investors.com/EditorialCartoons/Cartoon.aspx?id=545488
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
9:38 am
I think Donovan needs a martini too. I’ll give him an extra olive.
Doggone/GA
August 31st, 2010
9:38 am
“What an idiotic policy. We invest all those sacred lives and billions of dollars and it’s more important to safisfy the Left political base than to protect the investment”
And NONE of it would have happened if we’d minded our own business and stayed the hell out of Iraq in the first place.
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
9:40 am
Bosch – 9:35 – it’s 5:00 somewhere …
@@
August 31st, 2010
9:40 am
AmVet, I never hesitate to confront you directly, with name included. What’s YOUR problem?
Selective memory loss, a form of amnesia, is a rare side effect of head injuries when the victim loses certain parts of his/her memory.
Rudy’s appeal to me had nothing to do with his stance on national security. It was his innovative approaches to domestic policy that intrigued me. That, and the fact that he remained positive throughout the campaign.
I still like Rudy, and nothing you say or do will alter that fact.
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
9:42 am
Bosch … and if you’re mixing … make mine Grey Goose … dry … no ice … 3 olives … (a c o c k tail AND a snack!)
Bruno
August 31st, 2010
9:42 am
Well, Jay, I think I’m ready to throw in the towel in regards to the stock market. My genius can no longer overcome Obama’s efforts to ruin us.
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
9:43 am
I’m still bummed about that snake.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
August 31st, 2010
9:43 am
@@
August 31st, 2010
9:40 am
Get ready. Amvet will come back at you with some “Billy Jack” style rhetoric.
AmVet
August 31st, 2010
9:43 am
jconservative, ah yes! The poor, long-suffering people of Iraq. I lost count, after all the previous ones were shown to be bs, was that the fifth or sixth “reason” we invaded their country?
Union, perhaps, remedial sixth grade English?
Your canard about Carter is always laughable though.
This ranking in particular shows the margin by which George of the Bungle leads the pack in the loser column:
“Which of these eleven presidents we have had since World War II would you consider the worst president
1. George W. Bush (34%)
2. Richard Nixon (17%)
3. Bill Clinton (16%)
4. Jimmy Carter (13%)
5. Don’t Know/No Answer (5%)
6. Lyndon Johnson (4%)
7. George H. W. Bush (3%)
8. Ronald Reagan (3%)
9. Gerald Ford (2%)
10. Harry Truman (1%)
11. John Kennedy (1%)
12. Dwight Eisenhower (<1%)
And that was done in 2006! W probably garners 50% or more of that vote when he left office…
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
9:44 am
USinUK,
I like to throw in a pearl onion too — snack variety pack.
@@
August 31st, 2010
9:46 am
After reading this morning’s earliest contributions, it’s obvious where jay’s left-wingers choose to wage their war, now that Obama has “ended” conflict.
boyhowdy, the pasty elasticated waistband population was well-represented.
Long piece, but it says so much about why America’s Elder-hostiles are such a pain in the ass.
On the generation that came before them.
Niiiiice
AmVet
August 31st, 2010
9:47 am
Speaking of lists, I’m still awaiting Scout’s, with the liberals here who hate America…(Maybe he and Dusty are having a clandestine confab.)
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
9:48 am
… if it weren’t for selective poutrage, @@ would have no personality at all …
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
9:48 am
AmVet,
I’m confused, I thought we were waiting for Scout’s list of liberals here who relish in the death of soldiers.
larry
August 31st, 2010
9:48 am
During the run-up to the Iraqi war, the Bush Administration hired “perception management” expert John Rendon to sell the public and journalists on the merits of the war. For $16 million, Rendon fed journalists, including Judith Miller of The New York Times, bogus intelligence about Iraq’s WMD program.
All of you who were gung ho about going in……………….feel kind of stupid now?
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
9:48 am
AmVet – it’s not only hate America, it’s hate the military!
Paul
August 31st, 2010
9:49 am
Bosch
Maybe this’ll make you feel better.
Or not….
http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=10WFobBSd0s&feature=related
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
9:50 am
I hope Dusty doesn’t see Luckovich’s cartoon today — it could cause her to need therapy.
Normal
August 31st, 2010
9:50 am
“Now that we are leaving those people with some form of democratic government”
Jesus H. Christ. We have left them with nothing! Do you really think that once we leave, that “Democracy” will last? They will revert back to kind and start getting revenge and counter-revenge on each other until they are bled dry and Iran steps in. Iraq never should have happened and I hope there is a Hades so Bush and his gang can burn. He has singlehandedly shifted the balance of power in that region and forever shifted the flow of oil to an Anti-American Regime.
Saddem may have been a butt, but he was containable and no real threat.
If Bush had stayed the course in Afghanistan and left Iraq alone, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now and nearly 5000 families would be a lot happier…not to mention the families of the wounded and crippled.
I fear for a country who’s people can’t see facts for what they are, but I do know one thing, no matter who is in charge of our country in 2012, the price of oil has just gone up on our butts. Get ready GOP,
you are about to reap what you have sown…
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
9:51 am
Paul,
Oh. NO. no. no. [toes curled in boots]
RW-(the original)
August 31st, 2010
9:51 am
File this one away for the next time you see one of those endless stories about how some Republican can’t figure out technology
/drive by
AmVet
August 31st, 2010
9:52 am
Oh, I see, Bosch and USinUK! It is hard to keep up with that font of knowledge.
For someone who constantly touts his bravery he sure seems cowardly when it comes to producing said list…
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
9:53 am
Normal,
This is one of my favorite Luckovich cartoons — very telling:
http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/20080403_silver_platter/
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
9:53 am
AmVet,
I know, I know, the poutrages are just too much sometimes.
Bruno
August 31st, 2010
9:56 am
“And that was to liberate those wretched people from a psychopathic dictator who also fooled the entire world that he had the WMD.”
Differently from most of the Libs here, I believed in the “righteousness” of the mission in Iraq. Unfortunately, one critical element of the helping process was missing: the willingness of those folks to help themselves. I’m not really sure what is wrong with people from that part of the world, but evidently life is cheap to them.
AmVet
August 31st, 2010
9:56 am
Muslims being Muslims,…
Am I missing something here?
Paul
August 31st, 2010
9:56 am
Bosch 9:53
What’s kinda sad is that same ‘toon could run today with Pres Obama in place of Pres Bush. Same with N. Korea.
Just goes to show – many foreign leaders don’t care a whit who’s occupying the White House. It’s all just ‘America’ to them.
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
9:58 am
Um, Paul, Obama didn’t start that brew haha.
“Just goes to show – many foreign leaders don’t care a whit who’s occupying the White House. It’s all just ‘America’ to them.”
But yes, I agree with that.
Bruno
August 31st, 2010
10:02 am
Paul @ 9:49–I guess we could have a Friday Night Music based on an animal theme. Jim Stafford’s “Spiders and Snakes” would fit well.
A few years ago, I attended a hippie gathering in which everyone was supposed to come dressed as their “Power Animal”. An interesting evening, as you might guess. Something about girls with tails really turned me on.
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
10:04 am
“Something about girls with tails really turned me on.”
Oh damn, Bruno – you crack me up.
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
10:04 am
Bruno – that was Jim Stafford? I thought that was Mac Davis …
AmVet
August 31st, 2010
10:04 am
Bruno, good to seeya here on the morning crew! (Sorry for the reason though!)
I read something a long while ago that predicted how the Bush and Cheney Doctrines were going to meet with disaster.
Unless 80% of the battle is done by the local people, doing the fighting and whatever else is necessary in country, it is doomed to be in vain.
As it is, the neo-cons hoped foolishly that 80% of the fighting, etc being done by the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force would work just as effectively.
Fail.
Normal
August 31st, 2010
10:05 am
Bosch,
My favorite is of Luckovich on 26 October, 2005, where he took the names of the Dead soldiers in Iraq and spelled “WHY” with them. That too was very telling. I still have it in my man cave…
Left wing management
August 31st, 2010
10:05 am
AmVet:
“Muslims being Muslims,…”
Am I missing something here?
Nope. Just garden variety racism. That’s all.
jm
August 31st, 2010
10:05 am
You know, sorry, Jay, some of this original commentary (whether yours or someone else’s) is ridiculous.
Somehow people confuse nation building with war. On a straightforward basis, we won the war as GW Bush stated years ago.
We have not completed nation building, or, said another way, we have not won the peace yet. However, we have won the war and this stupid mindset that we somehow lost or are ending this in a Vietnam style military stalemate is a ridiculous proposition.
Finn McCool
August 31st, 2010
10:05 am
Glenn Beck’s rally was large, vague, moist, and undirected—the Waterworld of white self-pity.
http://www.slate.com/id/2265515/
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
10:06 am
Bruno – “(Sorry for the reason though!)”
wait … did things not work out with the new gig???
Bruno
August 31st, 2010
10:06 am
I have suggested a FNM with a theme of “our song” tht couples have chosen. When I was married, it was “Your Wildest Dreams” by the Moody Blues. I’d be very interested to hear what any of you have chosen for “our song”. Any songs by the Arctic Monkeys are disqualified, however.
Paul
August 31st, 2010
10:07 am
Bruno
Please tell me, no matter how much you had to drink, you didn’t walk up to them and say “wow that’s a mighty nice piece of tail.”
Is it Friday already?
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
10:07 am
look out Finneus … @@ will go poutrageous on your a$$ …
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
August 31st, 2010
10:08 am
Finn McCool
August 31st, 2010
10:05 am
Nice lift of Cynthia’s article from yesterday.
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
10:10 am
“the Waterworld of white self-pity.”
Damn, that was funny too.
Paul
August 31st, 2010
10:11 am
Finn McCool
“Glenn Beck’s rally was large, vague, moist, and undirected—the Waterworld of white self-pity.”
Someone needs to let her know….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPoP5l9FqSQ
Bruno
August 31st, 2010
10:11 am
“did things not work out with the new gig???”
Still in a holding pattern, USinUK. I had a great second interview yesterday, final decision is supposed to be on Thursday. If nothing works out soon here in GA, I’m going to pack it up and move to VA to be closer to my family.
Finn McCool
August 31st, 2010
10:12 am
Leg lamp, i don’t even know that Christopher Hitchens has ever even heard of Cynthia Tucker.
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
10:13 am
bruno – dammit, man … my fingers and toes are getting cramped from being crossed for you!! but I’m glad to hear that you rocked the 2nd interview …
where would you go in VA? more expensive than GA, but also more recession-proof.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
August 31st, 2010
10:14 am
Finn McCool
August 31st, 2010
10:12 am
No big deal. Tucker pretty much cuts and pastes most of her articles.
@@
August 31st, 2010
10:17 am
USinUK:
There is nothing that could provoke me to show disrespect for those that went before me. It wouldn’t matter if they were dems or reps. It’s just how I was raised.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
August 31st, 2010
10:18 am
Finn McCool
August 31st, 2010
10:12 am
You want to hear something hilarous. Tucker said he’s a Conservative. muuuwwwaaaaAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
stands for decibels
August 31st, 2010
10:19 am
Beck freely brings up and admits to what he sees as mistakes or poor choices he’s made and relates it to how he used them as opportunities to improve. He hasn’t tried to hide or excuse shortcomings.
Dr. King and his supporters: not so much.
Wow, Paul. Just wow.
I mean, golly jeepers, perhaps if some redneck-for-hire PoS hadn’t [bleep]ing SHOT the man seven years prior to reaching The Most Reverend Beck’s age of 46, perhaps Dr. King would have been in a better position not to hide or excuse his shortcomings.
But, you know, being dead and all makes that kinda tough for a guy to do.
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
10:19 am
@@ – “There is nothing that could provoke me to show disrespect for those that went before me”
those that went before you??? criminey, genuflect when you say that.
good grief – they’re people, @@. people at a protest. they’re not demi-gods.
Bruno
August 31st, 2010
10:21 am
“no matter how much you had to drink”
Paul, let’s just say that alcohol wasn’t the drug of choice that evening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hShJw4e133c&feature=related
paleo-neo-Carlinist
August 31st, 2010
10:23 am
AmVet, I beg to differ. the neo-cons learned much from Vietnam. have you ever heard the old marketing mantra; “give them a razor, then sell them the blades.”? the Cold War in general, and Vietnam (actually, SE Asia, we/CIA were waging war in Laos before the Gulf of Tonkin) in particular followed this business plan. the “razor” is the threat of worldwide Communism and dominoes falling, the blades are provided by the military-industrial complex (weapons). of course, you can’t “sell” weapons without a war…, well you can, but you sell a whole lot more when you’re at war. so, Ike was right. the M-I complext “partners” with neo-cons (especially chickenhawks like Cheney). since Communism self-destructed, there had to be a new “razor” for America; enter “global war on terrorism”. it will be interesting to see how much Obama speaks to Afghanistan. I think there are subtle, tactical differences in fighting a Cold War and a War on Terrorism, and I think the M-I complex knows this. the cynic in me thinks (knows) they “own” Obama, just as Wall Street and the insurance companies do. Anyone remember Country Joe and the Fish?
Come on Wall Street, don’t move slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go.
There’s plenty good money to be made
Supplying the Army with the tools of the trade,
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong.
It’s “what we’ve been fighting for”.
[Chorus]
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
10:23 am
dB – 10:19 – you liberals and your excuses …
Bruno
August 31st, 2010
10:23 am
“where would you go in VA? more expensive than GA, but also more recession-proof.”
To the Land of Falwell. I’m sure I’ll fit right in, having been working on my Bible quotes here on the JB blog.
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
10:26 am
I just sneezed like 15 times.
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
10:26 am
Bruno – meh – go to Alexandria … Del Ray is a fantastic neighborhood …
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
10:27 am
Bosch – 10:26 –
did you look like this:
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/7669198/20385948
Left wing management
August 31st, 2010
10:27 am
“Leg lamp, i don’t even know that Christopher Hitchens has ever even heard of Cynthia Tucker.”
Oh I’m quite sure he’s familiar with her considering her regular stints on the This Week Sunday morning program.
USinUK: what’s a lib exactly? Shouldn’t you be using the term in it’s proper international usage to mean a free-market trumpeter?
getalife
August 31st, 2010
10:28 am
A dark red stain on America’s soul.
Bad karma.
Bruno
August 31st, 2010
10:29 am
USinUK–I offer to you the JQOTD (The Jerry Quote of the Day):
“You’ll be riding along in an automobile. You’ll be the driver perhaps. You’re a Christian. There’ll be several people in the automobile with you, maybe someone who is not a Christian. When the trumpet sounds you and the other born-again believers in that automobile will be instantly caught away — you will disappear, leaving behind only your clothes and physical things that cannot inherit eternal life. That unsaved person or persons in the automobile will suddenly be startled to find the car suddenly somewhere crashes…. Other cars on the highway driven by believers will suddenly be out of control and stark pandemonium will occur on … every highway in the world where Christians are caught away from the drivers wheel.”
BTW, that’s Jerry Falwell, the Other Jerry.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
August 31st, 2010
10:30 am
getalife
August 31st, 2010
10:28 am
??
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
August 31st, 2010
10:32 am
Bruno
August 31st, 2010
10:29 am
The “pre trib rapture” is a hotly debated topic nowadays, but if you believe in it, then Jerry’s right.
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
10:32 am
LWM – “USinUK: what’s a lib exactly?”
dude. you just asked the $64K question. it’s an ink-blot question. it’s kaisor sose. the term has come to mean whatever the speaker seems to be against.
Independent
August 31st, 2010
10:32 am
And without progress, there will be regression. Although it remains below peak levels, violence has begun to increase again, and the Iraqi people appear increasingly discouraged about the prospects of democracy actually functioning. Each week without an elected government moves them closer to reverting to cruder, more familiar forms of authority.
A few corrections:
A without competent adults in charge, there will be recession. Although it remains below peak levels, unemployment has begun to increase up again, and the American people appear increasingly discouraged about their prospects for a job in Obama’s “transformed America”. Each week without competent leadership moves America closer to bankruptcy.
andygrd
August 31st, 2010
10:33 am
Jay, you mention what the Iraqis have not done… Let me see, I think it took 11 years of 13 colonies working towards a common goal to come up with our Constitution.
Keep looking at the negatives…. What about the positives, the construction of schools, education for girls, better medical facilities, people being taught how to farm, raise cattle, the opening of small manufacturing businesses…. etc, etc….
Has it been perfect no, will it soon be perfect no… You have people that now have a taste of Democracy and they are trying to embrace the idea,, however, on the other hand, you have people that want to go back to the old ways…
As a retired military officer, having served in two wars, I mourn the loss of our young people and those injured during the War. I guess I was spared, and I thank God for that…. A uniformed member of the United States hates WAR. As a professional solider, we despise it…. But point out the positives as well of the negatives, for many good things were done……
Doggone/GA
August 31st, 2010
10:33 am
http://biblestudies.suite101.com/article.cfm/is_the_rapture_biblical
USinUK
August 31st, 2010
10:34 am
Bruno – “BTW, that’s Jerry Falwell, the Other Jerry.”
I’m glad you clarified … my head was about to a’splode thinking that Herr Garcia said that …
Normal
August 31st, 2010
10:34 am
Bad Karma Indeed!
Bruno
August 31st, 2010
10:34 am
Since we can’t take our clothes with us, does that mean that angels run around naked?? I’m starting to like the idea of heaven more and more. Sounds a lot like some of the hippie gatherings and Wiccan celebrations I’ve gone to.
Doggone/GA
August 31st, 2010
10:35 am
“for many good things were done”
You betcha. We destroyed them so we could feel good about rebuilding them.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award", much like Cynthia Tucker's Pulitzer and Obama's Nobel
August 31st, 2010
10:36 am
Bruno
August 31st, 2010
10:34 am
I hate to make your choice even harder, but don’t forget, moozlums offer 72 virgins.
Bosch
August 31st, 2010
10:36 am
USinUK,
EXACTLY like that — I even ran into the camera at the end….
Wait, why is there a cameraman here? I’ll be right back……