Bush declares significant progress in Iraq war
July 31st, 2008 . by TexasFredWASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush declared progress in the Iraq war Thursday, saying terrorists “are on the run” and a generally improved security environment should permit further U.S. troop reductions.
Standing on the Colonnade outside the Oval Office of the White House, Bush also announced that effective Thursday, the duration of troop tours in Iraq will be cut from 15 months to 12 months.
Bush said this reduction “will relieve the burden on our forces and it will make life easier for our wonderful military families.”
“The progress is still reversible,” Bush acknowledged. But he added, “There now appears to be a degree of durability in gains.”
Full Story Here:
Bush declares significant progress in Iraq war
You can’t deny it, Iraq has shown great improvement, and it’s about time too. We have put in a lot of time, money, effort and, not to forget, many American lives to make this happen.
I never made any secret of the fact that I have always believed, and to this day continue to believe, Iraq wasn’t where we needed to go, especially at the time we went. I felt that Afghanistan was the REAL War on terror, I still do, and now we’re having to *ramp up* there once again because, after all, Iraq has become a much more peaceful place.
I still think that Iraq, in the early stages, after the Republican Guard was defeated and Saddam had been deposed, was the most ill managed excuse for an occupation that ever happened. Bush micromanaged Iraq and damned near caused this country to suffer the ultimate embarrassment, an *ass kicking* by a bunch of raghead insurgents.
It took several mission re-definitions, it took some catchy slogans, *The Surge*, and what it all boiled down to was this, someone finally got it through Bush’s thick head that he didn’t know his ass from 2nd base about war fighting and IF he seriously wanted to make his dream for Iraq come true, let the warfighters run the war.
This story, and the one just below it, tie in very well together, we must continue to fight the War on terror, we have NO choice, but that battle is going to always expand, soft targets will always be the ones that these terrorist look for. We can’t let the USA become that *soft target*.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Pentagon: Terrorism to be threat for decades
July 31st, 2008 . by TexasFredWASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates says that even winning the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan will not end the “Long War” against violent extremism and that the fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorists should be the nation’s top military priority over coming decades, according to a new National Defense Strategy he approved last month.
The strategy document, which has not been released, calls for the military to master “irregular” warfare rather than focusing on conventional conflicts against other nations, though Gates also recommends partnering with China and Russia in order to blunt their rise as potential adversaries. The strategy is a culmination of Gates’s work since he took over the Pentagon in late 2006 and spells out his view that the nation must harness both military assets and “soft power” to defeat a complex, transnational foe.
“Iraq and Afghanistan remain the central fronts in the struggle, but we cannot lose sight of the implications of fighting a long-term, episodic, multi-front, and multi-dimensional conflict more complex and diverse than the Cold War confrontation with communism,” according to the 23-page document, provided to The Washington Post by InsideDefense.com, a defense industry news service. “Success in Iraq and Afghanistan is crucial to winning this conflict, but it alone will not bring victory.”
Full Story Here:
Pentagon: Terrorism to be threat for decades
Sec. Gates seems to be a master of *the understatement*, a lot like the eggheads that keep saying that California *could* have a massive quake sometime in the next 30 years. Safe bets, hedged bets, they works pretty well, and the probabilities are in your favor.
Terrorism will not go away, even with a full victory in Afghanistan and Iraq, terrorism won’t go away even if radical Islam is totally wiped out. Timothy McVeigh wasn’t an Islamic terrorist.
But maybe Gates is on to something, fighting terrorism with “irregular” warfare tactics?? What a concept! And verbiage is everything, semantics make it all seem so much better.
Irregular Warfare? Wasn’t that what the U.S. Army Unconventional Warfare Manual covered for years? Isn’t irregular warfare, and the necessity of it’s use one of the really important lessons we supposedly learned in Vietnam?
Let’s face facts, we turned up the heat in Iraq, and to do so we drew down our forces in Afghanistan, and there was a fairly rapid resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. We turned up the heat and it now appears that many of the insurgents in Iraq, those not Iraqi themselves, have moved on to easier picking so to speak.
When we ramp up our efforts in Afghanistan, and I feel we must, I hope the DoD doesn’t forget that if we make it too tough on the insurgents there, they’ll simply move on to less challenged areas.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Number of illegal immigrants declines by 1 million, study finds
July 30th, 2008 . by TexasFredBy CLAY ZEIGLER / The Dallas Morning News
The number of illegal immigrants in the United States may have dropped by more than 1 million over the last year, according to a report issued Wednesday.
The Center for Immigration Studies in Washington said it estimates that the number of illegal immigrants nationally was 11.2 million in May, down from a peak of 12.5 million in August 2007.
Its numbers are estimates, the center said, based on data collected monthly by the Census Bureau on the number of foreign-born adults living in the U.S. The latest such data is from May.
The estimates are also based on the assumption that the “overwhelming majority” of immigrants in the U.S. illegally are Hispanics who are younger adults with relatively little education. That assumption, the report said, is based on “a large body of research.”
Full Story Here:
Number of illegal immigrants declines by 1 million, study finds
I want to clear something up, I have said this before, on numerous occasions, but apparently some of those folks suffering from a lack of reading comprehension skills have either missed it, misunderstood it, or, choose to ignore it as a matter of convenience.
I am NOT, in ANY way, against LEGAL immigration, I am the grandson of an immigrant, a LEGAL immigrant, a man that became an American, swore his allegiance to America, paid his taxes, raised his family to be good Americans.
His sons served this nation in the military. Most of his grandchildren have served, or, are still serving this nation in the military. His great grandchildren are serving this nation either in the military, law enforcement or both.
Legal immigrants have made this nation what it is, the greatest nation on earth, and a true melting pot of people and ideologies.
My gripe is with those that seek to destroy this nation by their illegal status, their refusal to become Americans, those that swear their allegiance to Mexico while living here, making their living, sending money to Mexico, and in many cases, not even paying taxes in this nation.
Those that denigrate America while living off of the fruits of this great land are the ILLEGALS I am so vehemently set against, those that will rape this nation, take and take and take, and give NOTHING in return, those that place a tremendous burden on ALL us, you and me, the LEGAL tax paying citizens of this great nation, those of us of ALL colors, races, religions and beliefs.
Anyone that can’t understand this is NOT the well educated Republican Conservative they claim to be. In my opinion, they are nothing more than a faux Conservative, one that embraces the beliefs of the libber left, and although their posts, on their own sites say one thing, their accusations against many others, in the comments sections of other blogs, speaks volumes to the statement of FAUX Conservatism being a FACT!
Faux Conservatives and RINOs? Stirring up as much hate and discontent in the blogosphere as possible. A short translation you say?? Blog Trolls.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Mexican drug cartels target bystanders
July 30th, 2008 . by TexasFredGUAMUCHIL, Mexico – The three teenagers started their big weekend singing “Happy Birthday” to the parish priest.
The next day, they prayed for hours with their church youth group, then went on to a quinceañera, Mexico’s archetypal 15th-birthday celebration. As the party wound down, they talked their parents into letting them go for a late-night cruise down the main drag in Guamuchil, a Saturday night ritual in this sleepy market town, friends and family say.
During that cruise, investigators believe the teens inadvertently blocked drug cartel assassins in hot pursuit of their enemies. Once police arrived in the wee hours of July 13, the assassins were gone but the three teens and a 12-year-old girl who was riding with them lay dead in their cars. Four others — another teenager and three adults — were dead in nearby cars. There were 539 bullet casings on the ground.
The killings here — a massacre of eight people who were not suspected of drug-trafficking ties — punctuated a vicious turn in Mexico’s drug war, a savage conflict between rival cartels and the federal government that has taken more than 7,000 lives in the past 2 1/2 years.
Full Story Here:
Mexico’s drug cartels target bystanders
I am of the opinion that it is only a matter of time until this violence spills over to our streets right here in the USA.
The gangs are in place, our borders are wide open and the invaders and gang members are still pouring in, more and more every day. Basically unimpeded.
I’m an America 1st kind of guy, I believe in protecting this nation, OUR nation, and I am of the belief that we MUST close our border with Mexico, seal it. I also believe that we MUST place troops along that border, National Guard troops, and we must allow those troops free reign. *Shoot to KILL*, anyone crossing that border at anything other than a legal border crossing.
And I make no apology to ANYONE for taking that stance.
But because OF that stance I am called a racist, a NAZI, a hate monger, and an extreme right winger by a contributing writer at Real Clear Politics.
I want to make this VERY clear to all the folks that have been reading here from the link at Real Clear Politics, if my beliefs as to the way we need to protect America offend you, click the *X* up there at the top right of the screen and LEAVE. And don’t come back. I don’t NEED, nor do I want your kind of patronage.
If my wanting to protect this nation from the hordes of invaders offends you, if it makes you think I am a racist, then YOU are not a person I care to be associated with in any way. LEAVE, and don’t come back to this blog. I am NOT about to change my beliefs to suit YOU or any RINO, faux intellectual, over educated, under employed, career frustrated, so-called professor at some 5th rate community college.
Aztlan wants about 1/3 of this nation as theirs, not as a part of the USA, but as a nation of Aztlan, not the United States. They feel it is owed to then, that it was stolen from them by the Gringos, and they want it back.
We can fight now, or we can fight later, if there’s any of you out their that have the balls to fight and defend your homes.
The USA is our home, and if some of us don’t have the balls to stand and defend her, we won’t be long in losing our home, and anyone that doesn’t have the fortitude to stand and defend this nation can kiss my assumed to be racist, NAZI, hate mongering, and extreme right winger ass.
Does that spell it out well enough for you Donnie?
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!