Retired Generals Challenge GOP in Ads
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Three retired generals challenged a dozen members of Congress in a new ad campaign Wednesday, saying the politicians can’t expect to win re-election if they support President Bush’s policies in Iraq.
“I am outraged, as are the majority of Americans. I’m a lifelong Republican, but it’s past time for change,” retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste told reporters.
I have expressed these same feelings on several occasions, and you know what I got for my efforts??
I got called names, I got called unpatriotic, I got called a paid shill for the left and the Dems, I was accused of being a paid professional writer that was posting in a deliberate attempt to undermine the authority of the POTUS, I got called a lot worse things too, I was accused of betraying this nation, I was called a traitor, all for expressing the exact same things these General officers did…
I wonder, are those same people going to stand and call names and accuse the Generals of the same things??
“Our strategy in Iraq today is more of the same, a slow grind to nowhere which totally ignores the reality of Iraq and the lessons of history,” Batiste said. “Our president ignores sound military advice and surrounds himself with like-minded and compliant subordinates.”
Gee, imagine that, and to think, I had the balls to say it a long time back, and some folks listened to me, some just called names, but that was out of ignorance and blind patriotism, from folks that can’t think for themselves, and just think, if I can come to these conclusions, the same conclusions that several retired General officers and leading Republican officials have come to, why can the guys on active duty find the balls to stand up and tell Bush he’s messing up a hell of a lot more than he’s helping??
Batiste and Paul Eaton, also a retired major general, are featured in the ads by VoteVets.org. They challenge the president’s argument that he listens to his commanders on the ground in Iraq and say the president’s Iraq policies endanger U.S. security.
“The fact is, the president has never listened to the soldiers on the ground effectively,” said retired NATO Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark, who ran for president in 2004. “This administration is not listening to the troops and is not supporting them.”
Wes Clark may have a political axe to grind with Bush but he’s right in his statement, as are Eaton and Batiste, Bush does NOT listen to any opposing views, he’s like a kid that puts his fingers in his ears and starts with the ‘LALALALALALALALALA I can’t hear you’ routine, in one ear and out the other…
Many in the group, including Sununu, have criticized various aspects of administration policy, but all have opposed legislation to establish a timetable for withdrawing American troops.
“Telling members of al-Qaida, militias or insurgent groups the date we will begin and end troop withdrawals is irresponsible,” Sununu said.
And again, my beliefs are directly in line with these folks, I have heavily criticized the President, and will continue to do do, but my criticism is not the ‘cut and run’, empty BS of the Dems, mine is directed at the manner in which Mr. Bush has totally micromanaged the Iraq debacle to the point where it is today, and I question why we have lost over 3,200 young Americans in a fight that should have been over quite some time back…
I have to wonder, if I am the unpatriotic, know nothing idiot that a few of the Bush Bot Bloggers believe me to be, why is it that I have been the bellwether in this??
Good guesses?? Yeah, that’s what it is, I’m a good guesser, or maybe it’s just luck?? Who knows, it can’t be that I might just know what I’m talking about?? Can it??
No way, not a chance in hell that could be right, is there??
The only thing I totally disagree with is waiting until you’re retired to grow a set of balls, and yes, I know, BALLS can be a career killer but once in a while you have to put truth and duty above all else, even self…
Full Story Here:
Retired Generals Challenge GOP in Ads
May 10th, 2007 at 8:06 am
Don’t forget that many of us that have stood by you through thick and thin, as you have us.
The truth always wins out.
May 10th, 2007 at 10:01 am
Yes Ranando, and it is greatly appreciated too… You and many others have been there, and many have come to see what I have been saying IS true, there were a few that didn’t believe it at 1st but as time went on it all came to fruition…
Well, for most folks, there’s a few that still have their heads up their asses, but I think they’re called Proctorologists…
May 10th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
The generals in question are doing what they are exactly for the reason you stated: because they are retired and out of reach of the DoD. Their careers are no longer in jeopardy and they can make points with those Democrats looking for new ‘experts’. They have no balls but this is not surprising. Most officers today are more concerned about their boardroom futures than they are about their battlefield ones.
May 10th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Some folks lack integrity I suppose… I never was one to sit back and watch the BS go down and not say something, and it cost me dearly but as I said, sometimes you put duty above self, but never put your personal integrity in jeopardy…
I can’t help but believe that if some of the generals that are coming and going as if a revolving door was installed had the balls to stand up and tell it like it really is, they would make a difference, but the Bush Bots (Amy & Co.) would call them traitors too…
May 10th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Nothing is ever going to be right until we fight wars the way the enemy does. There can be no sanctuary for the bad guys in masques, church’s, temples or synagogue’s. We must destroy them where we find them. And collateral damage must be ignored as well.
The game must be played by the same rules for all sides. Fighting a P/C war isn’t war, its an exercise in stupidity.
May 11th, 2007 at 10:08 am
“I can’t help but believe that if some of the generals that are coming and going as if a revolving door was installed had the balls to stand up and tell it like it really is, they would make a difference…”
Fred, any individual on active duty in the military, whether E-1, O-10 and every rate in between, may not actively (or otherwise) criticize civilan control over them. All they can do is resign in protest and, upon becoming a civilian, doing exactly what a number of generals have done.
What is the Iraq misadventure doing to America? I would suggest taking a look at what was happening in the USSR 4 years into their Afghanistan adventure 20 odd years ago.
Afghanistan broke the USSR and if we don’t put the throttle to the Bush Regime, Iraq will do the same for America.
George W. Bush and the Neocons, arguably the worst disaster to befall America, EVER.
May 11th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Fred, you and I may not agree on the reasons we are in Iraq, but we are in full agreement as to how poorly this whole thing has been done. Rumsfield was clueless and Bush was gullible. They need to simply give the command to do the job and let the people who know how to wage war get it done. These idiots had to micro manage and cut corners at every area. You can’t half ass a war!