Rep. Donnelly says Iraq situation better

I'd like to know how Donnelly would know. I contacted him a long time ago and offered my decade of unconventional warfare and counterinsurgency experience to him and never even got a "no thank you" response.

Other than the on the job experience our troops are getting (before they rotate out in a year or so) we only train about 5,0000 full time Special Forces and SEALs who specialize in this sort of warfare.

Out of a military of about 1.5 million, that means only about 3% of our military are professional and dedicated to this type of warfare.

Considering that 80% of them are enlisted guys, it's no wonder that so few of the officers eventually make it to be a flag officer (general). This exlains why our senior commanders made so many mistakes.

Why would any politician want to listen to silly me (or some of my more experieinced friends) who might actually be able to offer some useful advice?

I don't have enough money to throw at them, I guess.

Uh-oh, another one leaves the reservation. SanFran Nan is not going to be happy. Watch for a "correcting statement" none too quick. This sort deviation from "the message" will not be tolerated.

Bush Faces Pressure to Shift War Priorities
As Iraq Calms, Focus Turns to Afghanistan
By Michael Abramowitz and Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, December 17, 2007; A01

With violence on the decline in Iraq but on the upswing in Afghanistan, President Bush is facing new pressure from the U.S. military to accelerate a troop drawdown in Iraq and bulk up force levels in Afghanistan, according to senior U.S. officials.

Administration officials said the White House could start to debate the future of the American military commitment in both Iraq and Afghanistan as early as next month. Some Pentagon officials are urging a further drawdown of forces in Iraq beyond that envisioned by the White House, which is set to reduce the number of combat brigades from 20 to 15 by the end of next summer. At the same time, commanders in Afghanistan are looking for several additional battalions, helicopters and other resources to confront a resurgent Taliban movement.

Bush's decisions on Iraq and Afghanistan could heavily influence his ability to pass on to his successor stable situations in both countries, an objective his advisers describe as one of the president's paramount goals for his final year in office. They say Bush will listen closely to his military commanders on the ground before making any decisions on troops but is unlikely to do anything he believes could jeopardize recent, hard-won security improvements in Iraq.

Administration officials say the White House has become more concerned in recent months about the situation in Afghanistan, where grinding poverty, rampant corruption, poor infrastructure and the growing challenge from the Taliban are hindering U.S. stabilization efforts. Senior administration officials now believe Afghanistan may pose a greater longer-term challenge than Iraq.

"There's a real dilemma there for the U.S.," said retired Lt. Gen. David W. Barno, the former commander of U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. "In some ways, the paradox is you could make an argument that the insurgency is diminishing in Iraq and increasing in Afghanistan."...

Sorry, typo. It is supposed to be .03%, not 3%.

Now Donnelly says that things are swell, after he stood resolute with Nancy Pelosi to cut the funding for the troops, and back in January stated repeatedly that the surge couldn't work and we should surrender immediately.

So I have not heard any of you Spineless Dems come out and admit that you were wrong about the Surge????????Thank God we have a foward thinking President that does not make decisions based on loony poll numbers and makes them on principle and set out for Victory not Defeat like the Dems wanted. If I was a democrat I would be ashamed of myself and my cause,,,rooting against your own country for politicatl gain? Could you losers be any less AMERICAN.....?????

Dems are Spineless wrote:

So I have not heard any of you Spineless Dems come out and admit that you were wrong about the Surge????????Thank God we have a foward thinking President that does not make decisions based on loony poll numbers and makes them on principle and set out for Victory not Defeat like the Dems wanted. If I was a democrat I would be ashamed of myself and my cause,,,rooting against your own country for politicatl gain? Could you losers be any less AMERICAN.....?????

We were told that we were going to Iraq because of WMD's. The Bush administration has not lead us to a single ONE. That is FAILURE. Changing the mission every six months until you can FINALLY say, EVERYTHTING is great IS pure REPUBLICAN. OH, and the guy that BUSH would not rest until captured, Osama, still FREE. Remeber he took down the towers. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Man, you should have someone look at that BDS before it kills you!!!

WMDS wrote:

<quoted text>
We were told that we were going to Iraq because of WMD's. The Bush administration has not lead us to a single ONE. That is FAILURE. Changing the mission every six months until you can FINALLY say, EVERYTHTING is great IS pure REPUBLICAN. OH, and the guy that BUSH would not rest until captured, Osama, still FREE. Remeber he took down the towers. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

First off, 500 sarin filled shells have been found in Iraq. People who think like you will counter, "But those are old Gulf War shells," as if that somehow makes it no longer a WMD which Saddam Hussein's Iraq was supposed to verifiably destroy per UNSC resolution 687.

Oh, and btw, the mission has never changed; oust Saddam and then help regular Iraqi's construct a government that represents all Iraqi's instead of the select few.

Dems are spineless: So you consider the surge working because why? Because there is 'peace' in Iraq? You mean that 'peace' conjured up by segregating the country? How about the 3 car bombs that went off last Thursday. Is that the 'peace' you claim exists in Iraq?

I hate GW for his open borders policy selling out the sovereignty of this country, and his out of contol goverment spending. Bush however may have pulled this one out. The demowimps are even worse than this bunch of neocons. How pathetic that we have these losers in charge of our military.

The last thing we Dems need is to ease up on Bush and Cheney. We need to keep up the pressure to end this war, and Donnelly is only hurting this country by failing to kick the administration in the teeth. We need to maintain a radical, take-no-prisoners attitude about ending this war.

This guy's been a major disappointment. He's nothing more than a cheerleader for Bush and the Neocons. Just what Indiana needs in the Congress -- a DINO. Democrat in name only.

Just keep fooling yourself. That war was lost a long time ago.

Kevin wrote:

<quoted text>

Oh, and btw, the mission has never changed; oust Saddam and then help regular Iraqi's construct a government that represents all Iraqi's instead of the select few.

The "Iraq Liberation Act" was even signed in '98, 2 years before the bush election but somehow it was all a plot conceived by cheney.

dude from denver,

yes, please tell us more on the condition of the world based upon anecdotes from one day in one province of one area of one country on one continent in one hemisphere. You are an idiot that closed your mind far too effectively to offer any credible insights.

I love these brainwashed liberals. Let's think of some things that have happened because we liberated Iraq and would likely not have happened had we continued to "whack moles" - like we did for decades.

Libya allegedly gave up its WMD Programs.

Syria was forced to relinquish some of its military control over Lebanon.

Iran allegedly abandoned its nuclear weapons program a year after the invasion - funny how their journalist leaders haven't painted it that way, so they can't see it that way.

It was exposed that N. Korea has been violating Clinton/Carter agreement long before Bush's Axis of evil speech - or else they got a really quick start after the speech.

Most importantly, Al-Qaeda showed what they offered for the hearts and minds of the Iraqis, as did the US, and the Iraqis like what we are selling. Not to mention the Iraqis have had the chance to meet America's finest - assuming you don't buy into the distortion that our troops are blood thirsty rapist and murderers, like the liberals. This interaction will likely show the average Iraqi that their oppressive leaders have been filling their heads with BS. Over generations this will help them see they are not the victims of the west so much as they are the victims of their society. But, like democrats in America, their will always be a group of people willing to pimp hopelessness and despair in exchange for power... they just have to convince them they are victims of the power seekers opposition

I could go on and on... but those invested in defeat will not hear it. I simply hope people will begin to realize what a great disservice our media does to our efforts in this war on terror.

No gnews, is good gnews... with Gary Gnew.

Oh yeah, and we discovered Saddam had corrupted the UN's Oil for Food Program. Had we continued to trust the UN, in spite of its horrendous record, we would've found out why Saddam corrupted that program. That corruption doesn't indicate Saddam was contained, unless of course you are a silly brainwashed liberal.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/...

The surge is going great!

Y'all get yerselves on over to the Cracker Barrel now an' bulk up, Hoosier Style!

Remember to support those troops.

Britt wrote:

http://www.editorandpublisher. com/eandp/news/article_display .jsp?vnu_content_id=1003686058 &imw=Y
The surge is going great!
Y'all get yerselves on over to the Cracker Barrel now an' bulk up, Hoosier Style!
Remember to support those troops.

Wow an article from leftist E&P describing events that happened in July(the height of the counterinsurgancy) to refute assessments of the the situation six months later.