2007.09.19 Politics and National Defense Roundup Contributed by Bill Faith
In my email:
Dear Vets for Freedom member,
Yesterday, 250 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans took to Capitol Hill and delivered a strong message: support General Petraeus and don't tie his hands with burdensome legislation. It was an extremely successful event and we will send a wrap-up email tomorrow.
However - this afternoon - we need our members to reinforce the great work that our vets did yesterday. Today Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) is introducing an amendment that-on the surface-looks good because the amendment would require a fixed amount of rest time for troops between deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
But in actuality, the amendment is a backdoor attempt to legislate an end the war in Iraq. The Pentagon, General David Petraeus, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and leading military officials all agree that this legislation is nothing more than a "slow bleed" on our current strategy which would actually tie the hands of the Generals on the ground and make it nearly impossible to continue to defeat Al Qaeda in Iraq.
This is just another sneaky tactic to force America into surrender.
We need your help! Please call 1-888-362-2813 today and an operator will connect you with your Senators. Tell them:
The Webb Amendment is wrong and hurts America’s military.
Now is not a time for politics and posturing in the U.S. Senate.
Don't legislate strategy in the U.S. Senate - leave that up to the Generals on the ground.
In addition to your Senators, take a moment to call the following 6 Senators. They are considered "on the fence" in this debate-and need to hear from veterans who understand how important it is to complete the mission in Iraq.
Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) (202) 224-3353 Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) (202) 224-6665 Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) (202) 224-4254 Senator John Sununu (R-NH) (202) 224-2841 Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) (202) 224-2523 Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) (202) 224-4944
Today, The Politico reported that one of the leading anti-war activists said this about Senators who support the war in Iraq, "We're going to smash their heads against their base and flush them down the toilet."
Friends, the radical anti-war groups have never been more serious and today they are getting help in Congress from Senator Jim Webb.
The question is: who do you trust to fight the war in Iraq: General Petraeus or Congress?
Please join me in calling today...your actions will back up the 250 veterans who took the Hill yesterday!
Move out and Draw Fire!
Pete Hegseth Iraq War Veteran 2005-2006
***
Good news:
Michael Yon's latest is up:
Quick hits:
Michael Goldfarb
The of Major Troy Gilbert's widow, Ginger Gilbert, is compelling, and not only because of her "absolute moral authority," as Maureen Dowd might put it. Mrs. Gilbert's husband was killed in November 2006 when his F-16 crashed near Baghdad while providing close air support to a downed helicopter crew; the official investigation "Gilbert crashed because he was so focused on saving friendly troops from attacking insurgents that he flew too low." Al Qaeda subsequently released a video tape showing a desecrated and disinterred body that may or may not be Major Gilbert, though the tape is accompanied by images of his ID card.
Ginger Gilbert felt that the images were being used to erode support for the mission for which her husband and her family have sacrificed so much--that the "national press" was using the images as "a political catalyst to generate antiwar sentiment." No doubt Mrs. Gilbert is right, but as the explains, the video was also being used to demonstrate just how dangerous the enemy is: ...
Michelle Malkin ()
Like actress Sally Field, I am a mom. Unlike Sally Field, I do not live in La-La Land. We breathe a different brand of oxygen. We hold diametrically opposed worldviews. We have nothing in common but stretch marks.
Contrary to tongue-tied Sally's incoherent Primetime Emmy Awards diatribe, childbearing and childrearing experiences do not bond all women in a universal sorority of non-confrontation. There are sheep moms. There are lion moms. We know which kind Sally Field is. ...
Michelle Malkin
:
A bomb rocked a Christian suburb east of the Lebanese capital Wednesday, killing an anti-Syrian lawmaker and six other people, security officials said.
Antoine Ghanem is the eighth prominent anti-Syrian figure assassinated since 2005. ...
Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in a Jane's Defence Weekly report that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.
According to the report, cited by Channel 10, the joint Syrian-Iranian team was attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a Scud missile when the explosion occurred, spreading lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas. ...
Hot Air has more .
Ed Morrissey:
Bryan Preston
If you spend any amount of time at all in Iraq — and I mean that literally, any time at all — you’ll soon . Iraq is a country that spent 35 years in survival mode, under the boot heel of a man who admired both Hitler and Stalin and who sought to combine the brutality of both on his way to becoming the next Nebuchadnezzar. The society was traumatized, and its people evidently learned to live by a police state version of the rule: I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for what I’m swiping from you today, and mostly because by Tuesday the Mukhabarrat may have swiped me, myself and I, never to be seen again. I’ll be tortured and probably killed, but at least I won’t be out the couple of dinars I would have paid you.
I give you that as a preamble to the latest story about the Blackwater affair because it’s important to understanding how things work in Iraq. ...
More quick hits:
Michelle Malkin: Yes, my friends, for $70 million over the loss of his network career after the debacle: ...
Senate lawmakers yesterday refused to advance a bill granting the District congressional voting rights, crippling the city's chances of gaining a long-sought vote in the House of Representatives. ...
Contributed by Bill Faith on September 19, 2007 at 12:26 AM |
