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On the military solution in Iraq« Thread Started on Aug 7, 2

Daily newsbrief journal for August 2007, also see http://www.usdemocrats.com/brief for a global 100-page perpetual brief and follow twitter @usdemocrats


On the military solution in Iraq« Thread Started on Aug 7, 2

Postby admin » Sat Jan 28, 2012 3:06 pm

On the military solution in Iraq« Thread Started on Aug 7, 2007, 11:55pm » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------This past weekend at the YearlyKos Convention in Chicago, General Clark delivered the Friday morning keynote address. The speech discussed the Iraq war, its affect on our domestic and foreign policies, and the path we must take to leave Iraq.Below are excerpts and links to some highlights from the speech.On the military solution in Iraq: I know these guys. They're all my friends. Many of them have worked for me or worked with me, and I admire them, and they're doing a terrific job. And I admire Dave Petraeus. He's a fine officer, but he's going to do his best to make the surge work. That's his duty, and I think you can see by the results that where you put American troops, they're competent, they're capable, they're well led, they're well motivated, they're fearless, they do their duty, and of course they do make a difference. If you're a terrorist or you're Al Qaeda in Iraq or you're the Madhi's Army and you come face to face with American troops, you're in trouble. You take a shot at them, they shoot back. You miss, American troops hit. Our soldiers, they hit what they shoot at. They're trained to do that, and they're good, and I'm proud of them.But what we've got to do is create not an argument in the United States over the troops or their tactics, but raise the debate to the administration's strategies and policies in this region. Here's why: We can't succeed in Iraq with the numbers of troops, no matter how good they are, because you can't succeed in this war just by killing people or intimidating the opposition.Dave Petraeus would be the first one to tell you that. The military's part of the solution. It's not the answer. The answer's the politics. On the Iraq debate: What [President Bush and his administration] want to talk about is troops. They want to say they support our troops, and if we question the numbers of troops or their effectiveness, they want to say, 'You people don't support our troops. If you don't support our troops then you're not patriotic, and if you're not patriotic, then you don't have a voice.' I mean, that's what leaks out from everybody from Undersecretary Edelman and Vice President Cheney all the way down in every dialog.When we argue about troops, what we're doing is we're playing on George Bush's home court. That's what he likes. Now, I'm not up here saying, 'Okay, let's go play on his court. Let's say he's only put 170,000 troops. The Democrats, we should put 270,000 troops in.' Listen, I would've done it if I'd had it at the beginning. I wouldn't have gone into the mission, but having the decision been made, it was clear we didn't, we've never had enough troops to do the job. But you're not going to change the policy by arguing about the troop strength. We've done it. We're on record. We want the troops home, but may I suggest that if we can raise the dialogue, take it away from George Bush's safe ground of troops and people in uniform and 'How dare you question these Generals and these people in uniform that are so patriotic,' and say, 'No, we're not questioning the Generals. Mr. President, we are questioning YOU, your administration, your leadership!'I want you to say to President Bush, 'Mr. President, stop hiding behind Dave Petraeus and come out here and defend YOUR strategy! This is your war. You defend it.'I mean, I've been there in uniform, and when your boss tells you, 'Go in there and do the best you can,' you do the best you can, and you try to make it work. And that's what Dave Petraeus is doing, but you can't win it with what Dave Petraeus is doing. The only person who can make a difference is the person who controls the overall strategy in the region.We need your help. We need you to hammer on the theme of the strategy and the policies. Stop isolating people we disagree with. Start engaging. Come out with some real American leadership instead of simply leading by sending men and women in uniform into combat. If you would like to watch the entire speech, (http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vZ2E ... Uvc3BlZWNo). You can also watch other highlight clips from the speech here (http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vZ2E ... xpZ2h0cw==).Then forward this to everyone you know. Help us change the terms of the Iraq debate and bring our troops home safely.Show them the leadership on national security issues that General Clark brings to the Democratic party! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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