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Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Take The Pledge
Posted by Hugh Hewitt | 5:29 PM
Take the pledge. This is the temporary site. The full-service site will be up soon.
If you are a blogger who has taken the pledge and linked to the site, please send me a note so I can add your support here.
I interviewed Tony Snow at the top of the program today, and Senator Norm Coleman is scheduled in hour two.
After you have taken the pledge, please call Senator McConnell's office and urge a filibuster of Senator Biden's and Senator Warner's resolutions.
Senator McConnell's office number is (202) 224-2541. The capitol switchboard is 202-225-3121. Senator McConnell's e-mail is here.
Yesterday General Petraeus testified that the Biden/Warner resolutions and those like them encourage the enemy.
What does it mean, "to encourage the enemy?"
It means that the enemy gathers will and strength from the prospect of a collapsing political will to seek victory in Iraq and stability in the region.
With that additional strength and will the enemy redoubles and retriples efforts to kill American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.
In short, it means that more Americans will die....
So you find comfort in the Senate also doing the same? In spite of the generals? Ok, that's great Bully:Given that Chimpy has ignored every bit of advice on the matter of Iraq from the Iraq Study Groups, to the JCS, to commanders in the field, to the American people, what is there to support? With the number of people who actually support the administration in this disasterous foreign adventurism approaching the level of an endagered species, it's long past time for Chimpy to stop worrying about his legacy and start worrying about the US troops he wants to throw into the meat-grinder...Start worrying about the countless thousands of innocent Iraqis who have died, and continue to die, in Iraq since the invasion. A number which far exceeds that of people Saddam killed and buried in mass graves.
Leave Politics To Us, Warner Tells General
Wednesday, January 24, 2007; A21
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) asked Army Lt. Gen. David H . Petraeus during his confirmation hearing yesterday if Senate resolutions condemning White House Iraq policy "would give the enemy some comfort."
Petraeus agreed they would, saying, "That's correct, sir."
Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), until recently chairman of the Armed Services Committee and a co-sponsor of one of those resolutions, later explained to the general that he needed to be more careful about appearing to wade into a political debate and warned Petraeus to not let himself be trapped into portraying members of Congress as unpatriotic for disagreeing with President Bush:
We're not a division here today of patriots who support the troops and those who are making statements and working on resolutions that could be translated as aiding and abetting the enemy. We're trying to exercise the fundamental responsibilities of our democracy and how this nation has two co-equal branches of the government, each bearing its own responsibilities.
I hope that this colloquy has not entrapped you into some responses that you might later regret. I wonder if you would just give me the assurance that you'll go back and examine the transcript as to what you replied with respect to certain of these questions and review it, because we want you to succeed.
. . . I'm very proud of this committee and I don't want an impression, certainly among the armed forces, that we're not all steadfast behind them.
-- Thomas E. Ricks
...What possible purpose could passing such a resolution have had? It couldnt have changed the strategy. Indeed, it wouldnt have even counseled a change in strategy. The only possible purpose would have been to express a national sense of disunity. And what good would that have done?
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE have happening today with the Senate resolution that is currently being contemplated. The Senators who have expressed their support for the measure have earned historys scorn. The Senators who have agreed to even consider such a divisive and pointless measure have earned historys scorn.
Again, whats the point? Among the opponents of the surge, you see the kind of intellectual slovenliness that may be acceptable for a blogger but is hardly worthy of a Senator. A case in point: A week ago, Andrew Sullivan said he couldnt support the surge because after a careful tactical analysis, he decided that for a surge to be successful it would require 50,000 troops instead of the proposed 21,500. (Of course, I just made up the part about the careful tactical analysis.) Today, Andrew opined that to truly turn the tide we would need in the region of several hundred thousand more (troops). He offered no explanation for changing his figure by 14 fold, but I have little doubt that he arrived at the several hundred thousand number with a comprehensive tactical analysis similar to the one he used to arrive at the 50,000 number.
But Andrews just a blogger, and a childish inconsistency is every bloggers Constitutional right, or at least it will be until the Democrats put us out of business for making campaign contributions. But we should expect more from our Senators.
If John Warner thinks Dave Petraeus doesnt know what hes talking about, he should explain why thats the case in a detailed fashion. The same goes for Susan Collins, Norm Coleman, Gordon Smith and the rest of the pro-resolution gang. But I havent heard a Senator from either side of the aisle explain why he or she thinks the surge will fail with anything more comprehensive than Andrews virtual sound byte. When General Petraeus testified in the Senate yesterday, the Senators doing the questioning were loath to engage him in a tactical debate, clearly sensing their limitations. Yet without Petraeus in the room, the same Senators promise to be uninhibited when it comes time to vote for a resolution that will say in effect that Petraeus is wrong about the tactics he is pursuing...
Given that Chimpy has ignored every bit of advice on the matter of Iraq from the Iraq Study Groups, to the JCS, to commanders in the field, to the American people, what is there to support? With the number of people who actually support the administration in this disasterous foreign adventurism approaching the level of an endagered species, it's long past time for Chimpy to stop worrying about his legacy and start worrying about the US troops he wants to throw into the meat-grinder...Start worrying about the countless thousands of innocent Iraqis who have died, and continue to die, in Iraq since the invasion. A number which far exceeds that of people Saddam killed and buried in mass graves.
