Word that the Attorney General of the United States has been fibbing about his involvement in the firing of the 8 US Attorneys has, for some reason, shocked absolutely no one.
Maybe we should take that as a sign that this incompetent boob should have been fired a week ago:
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales met with senior aides on Nov. 27 to review a plan to fire a group of U.S. attorneys, according to documents released last night, a disclosure that contradicts Gonzales’s previous statement that he was not involved in “any discussions” about the dismissals.Justice Department officials also announced last night that the department’s inspector general and its Office of Professional Responsibility have launched a joint investigation into the firings, including an examination of whether any of the removals were improper and whether any Justice officials misled Congress about them.
The hour-long November meeting in the attorney general’s conference room included Gonzales, Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty and four other senior Justice officials, including the Gonzales aide who coordinated the firings, then-Chief of Staff D. Kyle Sampson, records show.
Ed Morrissey points us to this blurb by Jonah Goldberg at the Corner that pretty much sums up the situation:
Okay, he may simply have been deeply, deeply, confused, out of touch and unprepared to give a press conference which was supposed to put an end to the “scandal” and instead poured gasoline on it at a time when his boss, the President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief, had vastly more important things to deal with. Maybe, just maybe, a good “CEO” would have asked his staff, “Hey, before I unequivocally tell the world I was out of the loop, let’s double check and make sure I wasn’t in the loop. Okay?”
I will brook no excuses by commenters that Gonzalez “misspoke,” or “forgot,” or “got a note from his mother” that gave him permission to lie, or other excuses from the ever dwindling number of Bush diehards who visit this site . He is the frickin’ Attorney General of the United States fer crissakes! If there is anybody in government who needs to tell the truth, it is the guy responsible for enforcing the laws of land.
When I wrote last week that this was a non scandal, I was absolutely correct. The problem was that I didn’t bank on the Attorney General turning this into a full fledged Washington feeding frenzy by thinking he could get away with telling the press, the American people, and Congress one thing while knowing full well the truth lay exactly in the opposite direction.
Now firing the bastard won’t do anything to slake the thirst of the scandal mongers for blood. All it will do is make Bush look even weaker when he has to throw his AG to the dogs after promising to stand by him. And with a couple of Congressional Committees using electron microscopes to go over the documentation here, you can be sure they’ll find something else newsworthy every single day that will embarrass the Administration and make them look even worse – if that’s possible.
Word that the IG will be looking into this is actually the best news to come out of the entire affair. I’m sure he’ll raise questions about the propriety of the firings but I sincerely doubt he’ll find anything actionable. That won’t stop Congressional Democrats from going after Miers and Rove -a constitutional battle royale that’s shaping up to be the political entertainment of the spring.
I’m 100% with Patterico here:
These attorneys’ attitudes towards their clients can be summed up as follows: I’d like to defend you, but you’re making it very difficult for me.
This is the way I am starting to feel about the folks in the Bush Administration, on the issue of the U.S. Attorney firings. They have unquestionably been the victims of some smears by Democrats and Big Media (but I repeat myself). As a result, I’d like to defend them.
But they’re making it really, really hard for me to do so.
Damn near impossible now. This news today has even had them surrendering the high ground on the issue of executive privilege. Not that Rove or Miers has much to worry about. The netnuts are in their anti-Rovian dream state again, believing like Dorothy that if they click their heels together three times wearing the magic shoes and wish hard enough, Evil Karl will exit the White House in chains. This, too, will make for some great springtime entertainment. Nothing like watching the left have their heads explode when once again, Evil Karl escapes their clutches.
1:31 pm
Docs: Gonzales OK’d Firings 4 Months Ago
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meetin
1:50 pm
Rick,
You have fallen for this extrapolated story. A calendar entry, an e-mail of the date becomes a full blown speculation of what occurred at the meeting? All we know is that a meeting took place.
2:20 pm
The very best we can say about George W. Bush is he is an extremely poor judge of character. After all this is the guy who looked into the soul of Vladimir Putin, America’s most dangerous enemy, and decided that this was a man he could trust. Actually it is probably much worse than George W. Bush simply being a poor judge of character. Right now I would have to say that George W. Bush is easily the worst president in US history.
I do not look for him to finsih out this term. He along with Dick Cheney will be impeached. Cheney may resign before this due to “health reasons” or something like that. Americans may very well be looking at the first female president very soon. If my understanding is correct, the Speaker of the House becomes President if the President and the Vice President are unable to perform their duties. Since the President and the Vice President are going to be impeached they will be unable to perform their duties. This leaves Nancy Pelosi, America meet your first female president. That is if the country survives long enough for her to take her position as Commander in Chief. After all, America’s enemies have much worse plans for the country than simply impeaching an incompetent Comander in Chief, in the person George Walker Bush.
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, and the entire Bush Administration consisting of both past and present officials may be low life scum. They may very well be the most sinister group of Americans who have ever lived. That still does not change the fact that our Islamic Extremists enemies who are backed up by Russia and China pose an existential threat to the United States. Regardless what happens to George W. Bush or anyone else in his administration that will not change. The enemy we face will still pose an existential threat to the country and it will still need to be fought vigorously. It is of the utmost importance that we not allow ourselves to become distracted.
2:21 pm
[...] Rick Moran: The netnuts are in their anti-Rovian dream state again, believing like Dorothy that if they click their heels together three times wearing the magic shoes and wish hard enough, Evil Karl will exit the White House in chains. This, too, will make for some great springtime entertainment. Nothing like watching the left have their heads explode when once again, Evil Karl escapes their clutches. [...]
6:30 pm
Quite frankly I’ve found this Dept. of Justice firings business very complicated, and a bit boring. Thankfully, Jon Stewart keeps us up to date in this video: http://minor-ripper.blogspot.com/2007/03/jon-stewart-keeps-us-up-to-speed-on.html
8:02 pm
Yep; screw ‘em; I’m tired of it now too!
I’ve had enough.
I’ve defended endlessly, everywhere, against the Anti-American, Pro-Jihadi nutbags, and they don’t deserve it anymore.
Gonzales needs to go, and anyone else, that does this stupid crap; they go too!
I will point out there is a difference, however:
a) the Bush Administration is well-meaning, but incompetent!
b) the Clinton Administration (who I voted for, by the way!); was evil intentioned, and the Second most Corrupt Administration in History (after the Regean Administration)!
Give me incompetent, over Evil and Corrupt, anyday…
Sad, we’re forced to make that choice, isn’t it?
10:19 pm
Why do you think he felt compelled to lie?
6:23 am
“That still does not change the fact that our Islamic Extremists enemies who are backed up by Russia and China pose an existential threat to the United States.”
Could somebody please explain to me why Islamic Exremists pose an existential danger to the US.
Could you explain, in a step by step manner how they will bring about the utter destruction of the US?
As far as I can tell Bin Laden could detonate 10 Nukes in venues of his choosing and you’d still be a viable country.
8:24 am
You said it yourself, Rick.
“Now firing the bastard won’t do anything to slake the thirst of the scandal mongers for blood. All it will do is make Bush look even weaker when he has to throw his AG to the dogs after promising to stand by him. And with a couple of Congressional Committees using electron microscopes to go over the documentation here, you can be sure they’ll find something else newsworthy every single day that will embarrass the Administration and make them look even worse – if that’s possible.”
The Democrats are not in this for the reasonable maintenance of checks and balances to allow our grand democracy to keep rolling along. They are in this to cause as much damage to George W. Bush and the GOP as possible, by whatever means necessary, to gain as much political power as they can.
We are up against Islamist terrorists who will use whatever means necessary to reach their goals. We are up against the Democrats who will use whatever means necessary to reach their goals. And we scratch our heads and wonder why so often these two groups have the exact same agenda points.
Damn the torpedoes, George. Full speed ahead.
9:00 am
Gonzales should have probably stepped down… that press conference he gave was so bad that I wouldn’t hire him to defend me for a traffic violation.
9:36 am
Gonzales:
“I knew my chief of staff was involved in the process of determining who were the weak performers – where were the districts around the country where we could do better for the people in that district, and that’s what I knew,” Gonzales said last week. “But that is in essence what I knew about the process; was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on.â€
That is not a specific denial of involvement in discussion about any results.
WaPo:
“a disclosure that contradicts Gonzales’s previous statement that he was not involved in “any discussions” about the dismissals.â€
Conflating a statement about the process with one about the dismissals is dishonest.
I think you may have leaped at the bait, Rick.
9:38 am
Rick, I am no fan of Gonzales. However, I would be careful of any news on this case since it seems to be coordinated media/DNC hit piece.
Because of that, and only that, I would refuse to have Gonzales resign. We can’t keep giving this coordination victories.
12:22 pm
Were you people actually the “conservatives” you claim to be, rather than the “far right radical revolutionaries” you really are, you would be leading the charge in this matter. Allow me to quote a political philosopher who is (theoretically) someone all of you respect deeply, John Stuart Mill:
Instead of the function of governing, for which it is radically unfit, the proper office of a
representative assembly is to watch and control the government: to throw the light of
publicity on its acts: to compel a full exposition and justification of all of them which any one considers questionable; to censure them if found condemnable, and, if the men who compose the government abuse their trust, or fulfill it in a manner which conflicts with the deliberate sense of the nation, to expel them from office, and either expressly or virtually appoint their successors.
You people used to be the party that distrusted government, yet for the past six years you have not only allowed but supported and cheered for actions by government that insure we become what we claim we oppose, that we destroy the very things about us that are responsible for our being attacked.
What has defined America from our founding – what has made us different from every other nation – is our committment to the Rule of Law, not of men. This is why oversight is so critical. As a country, out political tradition is that we simply do not trust, and never have trusted, our government officials to act properly when they can act in secret and with no checks.
If you were actual believers in the constitutional republic of the United States of America, rather than semi-literate authoritarians who want to give your freedom over to a failed scumball who was never worthy at any time of his life of your good opinion, you wouldn’t need this little lecture. You’d be the ones manning the battlements.
12:25 pm
Gonzales should of never been attorney general. Ashcroft was a much better AG. To think Bush thought about him for the supreme court too. I hope this thought is not in the cards any longer.
The fact is the highest level justice general has lied under oath as well as lieing after this whole thing began.
Instead of saying they were fired for “performance” all they needed to do is say that we are hiring some new SAG’s in order to move in another direction. End of story.
Instead, we have heard multiple reasons as to why it was done and the entire episode looks bad.
This was a stupid non-story that turned into a story as a result of Gonzales’s idiotic untruthful response.
3:55 pm
Drongo
The Islamic extremists do pose an existential threat to the US. This becomes especially apparent when one considers the fact that they are backed up by Russia and China. Russia and China are the two most powerful countries on earth now. If the Islamic terrorists were to detonate several nuclear weapons on American soil, this would significantly weaken the US. This would make it much easier to take it over to completely destroy it. The Islamists would likely be backed up by their allies of Russia, China, and Venezuela. The Islamic terrorists are already receiveing assitance from these countries in abundance. In any event, due to America’s extremly lax border security, the invading Islamic force may already be in the country.
If Bin Laden detonated 10 nuclear war heads in the US, millions and possibly 10s of millions of Americans would die. At best, this would completely destroy the American economy. Yhis would make it all but impossible for the US to come to the aid of its Western European allies. In a situation such as this, Western Europe and any one else who had allied themselves with the Americans would be easy pikcings for the terrorists and their allies.
While the terrorists we are fightng do pose a major threat to us, they are not the biggest threats to American security. The biggest threats to American security are Russia and China.
As I stated earlier, Bush and his team may incompetent evil scumbags. I think they should all be impeached and jailed but even if we do this, this does not change the fact that the US is fighting an enemy who poses an existential threat to us. It is important that we not allow allow ourselves to become distracted.
TCinLA
Good post. I must say I have to agree with most of what you wrote. I think we both agree that Bush should be impeached, however, as I pointed earlier we must not allow the impeachment of the President or his minions to distract us from the fight we face with Islamic extremists and their Communist allies. This is a fight for our survival. We must not waver in our determination to confront this enemy. It is not a time to be fearful but a time for steadfast determination.
5:14 pm
Rick,
Gonzales ain’t leaving.
This hyperventilating DBM “crisis/scandal/story” has so few “regular Americans” care about its diversion as to have the whole thing be laughably irrelevant going forward.
But I did like, with the exception of your cynical prediction wrt impeachment, your latest post about the “imminent war” with Iran.
The casus belli with Iran has already been established, many times over. It’s now the CiC’s call as to how to best accellerate changing the totalitarian Iranian regime that Projects “Death to America!”.
When better, and who better than President Bush to begin the endgame with a nation that has been at war with America since at least 1979?
Highest respect always…
Keep up the good work.
5:19 pm
“B.Poster Said:
“Right now I would have to say that George W. Bush is easily the worst president in US history.”
Easy for you to say, however…
QFE:
“It is easy to pick out mistakes made by any President… In the end, Bush will be judged by the totality of his Presidency not by the Six Sigma analyses that pass for serious critiques by the Presidents detractors. In fact, they are not serious at all. They represent a political tactic that seeks to undermine rather than improve. And for that, they should be ashamed of themselves.” – Rick Moran, 3/9/06
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles_print.php?article_id=5312
5:28 pm
TCinLA Said:
“Allow me to quote a political philosopher who is (theoretically) someone all of you respect deeply, John Stuart Mill…”
“John Stuart Mill, of his own free will
With half a pint of shandy got particularly ill.” – Monty Python
Yay! Quotes
6:57 pm
You say it’s a non-scandal inflamed by Gonzales’ blunders, but the very poor reaction by Gonzales and the whole Justice Department may reflect a real scandal in the wings. There’s reason to believe that several of the firings happened because the SAGs were resisting hurrying prosecution of Democrats, or refused to go easy on Republicans under investigation. The Justice Department is full of political appointees, and that’s okay, but politicizing their decisions is verboten.
I’m a registered libertarian from New Mexico – from what I’ve seen Domenici and Wilson did pressure Iglesias (placing the call in the first place is bad enough, but calling Iglesias at home, hanging up on him, etc., is too much). I’m disappointed that they did that, and sorry he’s been punished for it.
8:19 pm
I, scapegoat
I’ll give these righties a giant pat on the back for intellectual honesty. Maybe, someday, they’ll yank the Kool-Aid out of the trembling grasps of the diehard Bushies at Wizbang…
11:13 pm
Nick D.
Thanks for the reply to my post. You are correct. President George W. Bush will ultimately be judged by the totality of his Presidency. It is too early to make a final determination yet on the Bush presidency. This is why I put the words “right now” in the sentence you reference. With that said, as I’m writing this, the Bush Presidency is not looking very good. It is looking like the worst presidency in American history, however, things can change. This is why I put the words “right now” in the sentence. When his presidency ends or 50 years from now we may look back on his presidency and reach a different conclusion than I have reached right now. I certainly hope he does better. If we have a failed presidency, we have failed as a country. This is so matter if the president has (D) by his name or an® by his name. Also, Rick is right that the many, if not most, of the critques offered by the main stream media, especially the far left are done to undermine rather than to improve. This is why I have no patience with leftists.
11:17 pm
I meant: an® by his name.
2:20 am
“If the Islamic terrorists were to detonate several nuclear weapons on American soil, this would significantly weaken the US. This would make it much easier to take it over to completely destroy it. The Islamists would likely be backed up by their allies of Russia, China, and Venezuela. The Islamic terrorists are already receiveing assitance from these countries in abundance. In any event, due to America’s extremly lax border security, the invading Islamic force may already be in the country.”
So let me get this straight. The plan is for the Islamists to nuke America a bit, for China and Russia to ally with them in order to directly attack both America and Europe, while a concealed sleeper army of Islamists in the US continuously attacks evetually imposing Sharia law.
Is that right?
Honestly, way too much 24. Great show that it is, if it were true then this level of paranoia might be understandable but…
You’ve forgotten a few little facts. The Russians hate the Islamists. Sure, countries are fine in their eyes, but Islamic nutcases keep killing their kids and they keep leveling their cities. The Chinese aren’t anything like as inscrutable as you seem to think. There is no Russian funded sleeper Islamic army hiding in the US. Neither is there a batallion of Spetsnatz in your fridge. The Russians wouldn’t have a hope in hell of occupying the US, neither would the Chinese or the “Islamists”.
And probably most notable, if there were evidence of Russian or Chinese involvement in nuclear attacks on the US then you have the world’s largest nuclear arsenal at your disposal and justification to use it.
What happened that meant that MAD wasn’t applicable anymore? Where’s the percentage in it for the Russians or the Chinese anyway?
6:28 am
It’s amazing how no scandal of this admin can shake your faith that “The Left” is worse. Decades ago there was a “Left”, but those times are past. “The Left” now is a phantom – the real threat is so-called conservatives who copy the tactics of the old, real, Left.
The Republican party doesn’t resemble the Nazis – it resembles the Soviets. That, in some ways, is even more damning.
8:46 am
Drongo
“Is that right?” Thats pretty close, however, the Russians may attack first. They seem to be using the Islamists as proxies.
I’ve actually never watched “24.” Occasionally I read Rick’s summaries. I don’t watch much tv.
While the Russians are engaged in a war with Chechnya, they actively support Iran, Syria, and other Islamic terrorist supporting nations. Vladimir Putin has stated that Russia is the best friend of Islam. The Russians could occupy the US. The idea would be to inflict as much damage as possible as possible during the initial attack. We would expect the Americans to respond vigorously but it may be too late.
Actually the world’s largest and most advanced nuclear arsenal belongs to Russia not to the United States. MAD is not applicable here because due to the extremely poor state of US human intellegence assets the US would likely not have a chance to respond to the attack.
The US is in a fight for its survival. It should conduct itself in this manner. Underestimating one’s enemies hs the potential to be suicidal. This is not a time for fear. It is a time to approach the situation with steadfast determination and resolve. We can win but it will require a supreme effort and likely supreme sacrifice. I hope and pray we get our act together here before it is to late.
1:39 am
“I’ve actually never watched “24.†Occasionally I read Rick’s summaries. I don’t watch much tv.”
Oh, you should, it would be right up your alley. Great show.
“While the Russians are engaged in a war with Chechnya, they actively support Iran, Syria, and other Islamic terrorist supporting nations.”
Like I said, they play the game with nations but not with Islamist terrorists. They hate the Islamists and the Islamists hate them.
“Vladimir Putin has stated that Russia is the best friend of Islam.”
Yeah, and Maggie Thatcher was the best friend of Sinn Fein.
Being a friend to Islam is not the same as payrolling a covert Islamic army in the US. It just means “We need to wrap up these guys in trade deals and freeze the West out”
“The Russians could occupy the US. The idea would be to inflict as much damage as possible as possible during the initial attack. We would expect the Americans to respond vigorously but it may be too late.”
(a) How would they occupy you?
(b) Why would they occupy you?
Just imagine for five minutes, invading and occupying Russia. Does that sound like fun? Something that would be to your benefit? Something that would actually work?
“MAD is not applicable here because due to the extremely poor state of US human intellegence assets the US would likely not have a chance to respond to the attack.”
Huh? You’re saying that when Convoys of Russian ships are coming over to invade your country in repeated waves, you wouldn’t have time to nuke them?
Or that enough nuclear weapons could be detonated to completely remove your command and control before you retaliated?
“We can win but it will require a supreme effort and likely supreme sacrifice.”
What do you mean by win? How is fighting in Iraq helping you defeat the Islamist sleeper army in the US, or the invading Russians?
11:15 am
Gee….Breaking News….Stop the presses! Political Party claims political appointees were fired for political reasons
Oh the humaninty of it! How dare they?!
Another non-story meant to bring down a president.
7:10 pm
Drongo
I don’t plan to watch “24”. Don’t have time. TV is for largely unserious folks. Actually, from Rick’s summaries of the show, it seems to me that the producers of the show do not grasp the gravity of the threat that Islamic extremists pose to the US.
If you support the nations of Iran and Syria who support the Islamists this is the same as supporting the terrorists they support. Russia actively supports every major enemy of the US. Also, the Islamists seem to largely ignore Chechnya, at least those in Iran and Syria do. The Communists and the Islamists are drawn together becuase of mutual enemies. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” seems to be the philosphy. The notion that the Islamists and the Russians hate one another does not seem to be accurate. At least their actions seem to indicate that they are close friends. Russia has the best intellegence agency on earth. I find it highly implausible that these guys can’t track down Chechen terrorists. I suspect the Russians may be arming the Chechens and using them as an excuse to establish a police state. It also serves as a good excuse for them to mobilize their formidable military machine. Russian defector Alexander Litvenenko tried to warn of things like this. He was assainated.
How would they occupy you? As I stated they could inflict enough damage to make in the initial attack to make resistance all but impossible. Their invasion would not be with the use of precision weapons, in an attempt to minimize civilian casualties, the way the US and its allies have done in Afghanistan and Iraq. Due to the lax readiness of the US nuclear arsenal, an American response would be problematic at best.
Why would they occupy you? I’m not sure they would. They could reduce much of the country, if not all of it, to an uninhabitable radioactive zone. This would accomplish their goal of being the world’s sole power. Russia already is the most powerful country in the world, however, China is gaining on them. With the US out of the way they would have no rival for the foreseeable future. Since the Americans thought the Cold War ended, the readiness and the effectiveness of the nuclear deterrent has been allowed to erode. In contrast, Russia has been testing their nuclear arsenal and has made significant upgrades to it. Russia now has the most advanced nuclear arsenal in the world.
The US has no plans to occupy Russia. Even if it wanted to its military is inadequate to perform that task.
I don’t think MAD is applicable here. A Russian invasion would not come by ships. It would likely come by nuclear weapons launched by submarines and by land based ICBM silos. The US would have only minutes to respond. Due to the poor nature of US human intellegence and the low level of readiness that the US currently has it is highly questionable whether the US would have time to respond. The ships might come later, should the Russians choose to occupy the country. Obviously an occupying force would need bio protection suits. I suspect that if there is a covert force in the US they probably already have these suits.
The problem with the command and control structures of the US is they are not sufficiently protected to withstand even a suit case nuclear attack, much less an all out attack from a major power like Russia or China. The Russians and the Chinese have worked to harden their command and control structures in recent years. The US and Western Europe lag behind the Russians and Chinese in these efforts.
“What do you mean by win?” What I mean by winning is eliminating the ability of the Islamic terrorists and their Communist allies to pose an existential threat to the US. Currently these groups pose a survival threat to America. This cannot be allowed to continue. If they did succeed in taking out the US, Western Europe and anyone else who was even remotely allied with the US probably would not be far behind. That is unless they surrendered.
I should point out that George W. Bush’s idea of victory seems to be a little different than mine. He seems to want to establish “democracy” throughout the Middle East. Unfortunately the policies of the Bush Administration have been horribly inconsistent. I have already said I think Bush is the worst President in US history.
The effort will ultimately require extreme sacrifice. I would suggest a mobilization for war simillar to the one that was undertaken by the US and its Western European allies for WWII. Ultimately I expect the Americans and the Western Europeans to fight vigorously. Unfortunately by the time they wake up it may be to late. Western civilization is in a fight for its survival. It is time for Americans and Western Europeans to conduct themselves accordingly.
“How is fighting in Iraq helping you defeat the Islamists sleeper army in the US or the invading Russians?” In my previous post, I don’t recall taking a stance for or against the Iraq war. In any event the way the Bush Administration and America’s allies are fighting the war it is not helping, in fact, it seems to be making things worse, however, it could help us, if fought properly.
The lift cost per barrel of Iraqi oil is less than the lift cost per barrel of Russian, Saudi, or Iranian oil. If we could bring stability to the country, we could flood the market with Iraqi oil. This would cut into the revenue of Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. This would go a long way toward neutralizing their ability to harm American interests. It would also hamper their ability to support terrorists. In addition to this, establishing security would go a long toward giving representative democracy the space it needs to give it a chance to work. If we could get a democratic ally out of Iraq the benefits to us and Western Europe would be fabulous. Even if it is not a demcocray a secure allied Iraq would be of enormous benefit to us and Western Europe.
With that said a plan no matter how good it may be on paper has to be one that can be implemented. The kind of commitment that it would take to achieve the above mentioned outcome requires more of a committment than the American people, Congress, America’s allied, or even the Bush Administration are willing to make. Given that current realities make it impossible to achieve many of the goals mentioned above, it would be best to try another approach. It would probably have been better to have not invaded Iraq at all. I had my doubts going in.
As for an Iraq strategy going forward, I would suggest pulling Allied troops back to Kurdish areas and only intervene in the Iraqi Civil War to halt the spread of Al Qaeda or Iranian influence within the country. The primary goals for Iraq should be: 1.)Annihalte Al Qaeda in Iraq. 2.)Contain the influence of Iran within Iraq.
The above mentioned strategy may not work but it has the benefit of being something we can actually implement. What I would like to see done is a full mobilization for war. Then we would take out the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as the terrorist supporting governments of Iran and Syria. While doing this, we will need to be on guard for the Russians and Chinese. Ultimately this will be the only way to win but we cannot implement this policy right now. For now all we can do is stall for time until we can. When we finally wake up I pray it will not be to late.
This thread was supposed to be about Alberto Gonzales. The point I’m trying to make with this is as follows, so far, George W. Bush has been a horrible president. I think he has been the worst president in US history. He may even be despicable person. He may even be evil. His entire administration may be the most evil and corrupt in American history, however, regardless of what he or his advisors are this will not change the fact that the US is in a fight for its survival. The enemies we currently fight in places like Afghanistan and Al Qaeda in Iraq, as well as their allies, posed an existential threat to the US before Bush came to power and even if he were impeached tonight they would still pose an existential threat to the US.
No matter what we think of President Bush we cannot allow ourselves to become distracted. The US and Western Civilization face an existential threat. The sooner they begin to conduct themsleves accordingly the better.
4:54 am
“What do you mean by win?†What I mean by winning is eliminating the ability of the Islamic terrorists and their Communist allies to pose an existential threat to the US. Currently these groups pose a survival threat to America. This cannot be allowed to continue. If they did succeed in taking out the US, Western Europe and anyone else who was even remotely allied with the US probably would not be far behind. That is unless they surrendered.”
Well, obviously we see the world differently. I see no hints whatsoever that the Russians are planning a first strike nuclear war. I see no reason for them to want to do so, and your piece only covered that as far as “This would accomplish their goal of being the world’s sole power.”
Frankly this is dangerously paranoid thinking because, based on your certainty that the Russians are willing to risk all out nuclear war in order to be top dog, you seem to be advocating total war against Afghanistan, Iran and Syria which would inevitably lead to more regionalised and even globalised war.
In addition, the idea that the Russians are funding the Chechens is beyond absurd, akin to 911-truthers paranoia.
You say that we don’t appreciate the risks, I say that your imagination is running away with you and that it is pushing you towards advocating absurdly risky actions that you have no need to perform.
It strikes me that merely upping your readiness levels and hardening your command and control would be a better move than invading Iran and Syria.
Still, you’re right, this thread isn’t about this, it is about Mr.Gonzales, a man who is pretty obviously yet another liar in a position of trust. Given the general uselessness of your elected leaders, I wouldn’t trust them with anything but a defensive strategy to be honest.
9:01 am
Drongo
I don’t trust my elected leaders much either. The problem with only a defensive strategy is you never gain any ground. The enemy who is constantly playing offense will eventually defeat you. So a defensive only strategy will eventually lead to the defeat of the US. If the US is defeated, Western Europe would likely not be far behind.
Frankly the US and the West face an existential threat. To allow Al Qaeda, Iran or some combination of them to gain control of Iraq would place United States survival in grave danger. At a minimum, failure to achieve a situation where Iraq is stable and allied with the US in the global war on terrorism will mean the end of the US as a major power. It will in all likelyhood place the survival of the country in grave danger. As the survival of the US is placed in grave danger, so is the survival of Western civilization. A country and a civilization simply cannot survive by constantly appeasing its enemies. We should have learned this after WWII. With all of this said, a purely defensive strategy may be the only one we can implement. This would mean stalling for time and pray for the best. Hopefully we can somehow survive.
As for Alberto Gonzales, it appears he lied. He should step down or be removed from his office, however, this will not change the fact that the US faces an existential threat from Al Qaeda and its allies. The US faced an existential threat from Al Qaeda long before Gonzales became the AG and the US will face an existential threat after he leaves office. Unfortunately we have allowed us to become distracted.
The US and Western civilization face an existential threat and they should begin to conduct themselves accordingly. As it is, the last I heard we have been unable to get NATO members to honor their committments to Afghanistan. Western civilization is fundamentally unserious. Eventually we will get serious but it may be too late.
4:50 am
“I don’t trust my elected leaders much either. The problem with only a defensive strategy is you never gain any ground. The enemy who is constantly playing offense will eventually defeat you.”
Nonsense. A defensive strategy is one in which the defensive is the primary mode of engagement, not the only one. The more likely result, as is happening with the current US offensive strategy is that you exhaust yourself while everyone else gets stronger on the sidelines.
In the case of the US you are perfectly built for a defensive strategy, and poorly built for an offensive one. You have a fickle population, unused to sacrifice, or dicipline, or unquestioning loyalty, and are seperated geographically and socially from your enemies. Meanwhile you have strong alliances and strong trading partners.
I still think that you are wrong in your estimation of the threat from Russians, Chineese and Islamists joining to nuke and take over your country.
“At a minimum, failure to achieve a situation where Iraq is stable and allied with the US in the global war on terrorism will mean the end of the US as a major power.”
If this is true then you’re over as a major power because it is not going to happen.