Obama is Wrong. And So Is McCain.

This is for you, Mr. Jacobs, concerning your "Some world leaders are megalomaniacal despots who are fanatically self-centered, thoroughly revolting and often demented."

http://www.sociopathicstyle.com/traits/classic.htm

Read that. If you're still not convinced Bush is a sociopath, do nothing about it. However, if you think otherwise, do yourself and whoever reads your stuff a favor, and write something on it. If you're afraid of your reputation, then in the end, you really have no reputation to protect.

That's hilarious, I read that and my first thought.... Bill Clinton. Ha Ha Ha, i guess you just see what you want, and thats what you get for using an internet forum board be the end all diagnoses for any affliction.

I agree Jack.

Jack,

Well said. I agree. Saying that he would try negotiation if elected and making the substance of any negotiation after election public are 2 separate things.

I feel bad that Obama has to defend himself about policy, after all, the guy's in a political campaign! Little sound bites are being conflated into operating policy. The point is that the Bush policy of confrontation as the first option in foreign policy is counter-productive and harmful. Keeping negotiation secret is just as dangerous because we live in a democracy where every act of government proceeds from the people.

Bush's policy of '...confrontation as the FIRST option..."? Are you kidding? Iraq received HOW many warnings from the UN? How many speeches did Bush give after the resolution, warning Iraq about the consequences of their continued contempt for the resolution? How many times was Saddam going to have to gas and murder his own people before something was done? How many other countries was he going to have to go to war with or invade before someone had the stones to treat him like the threat he was?

Are are you really so naive that you believe government actually proceeds from the people? WWII was won in great part because the US and British gov't didn't tell the people what was actually going on. FDR and Churchill released false reports so they would be able to do the actual secret work that won the war. And that should continue today: we don't need some embedded reporter telling Billy-Joe Jim-Bob in Okeefanokee Swamp about the troop movement schedules in Iraq. There needs to be oversight, but there are some things that shouldn't be in the public forum, accessible to friends and enemies alike.

The fact is that many Americans believe if we all sit around, holding hands and singing Kumbaya, things will work out: that is wrong. The world is filled with evil, maniacal people whose only desire is oppression and murder. There are times for sitting around a table and talking, and there are times for kicking ass: let's just hope we elect the person who can recognize the difference and act upon it.

I agree 100%. What frightens me is that there are SO many people out there that don't get your point at all. Everyday I see bumperstickers and signs war= terror and no peace, only war. What are we in the 70s people?!? We didn't end up a free nation without going ot war for it and we didn't keep it or it's people safe by turning the other way. If it wasn't for going to war to defend the very freedom we see to take so for granted, we would all be speaking Japanese or German right now.

I've lost serious faith in the American public, maybe it's because I'm surrounded be socialist minded Seattlites, but really. Get a clue America, the public only needes to know the bare min in war situations or we end up fighting a political war... and that never gets us anywhere.

erik,

You seem to be under the impression that this war is a just war, is that right? Do you think this is a just war?

Do you think people should not speak against a war if it's an unjust war?

Do you think the govt is always right and citizens should just agree to whatever they do?

The problem in dealing with Iran is that no one can be certain that the person sitting across the table actually has the power to deliver what has been negotiated. It has even been suggested that Syria too is undergoing a power struggle. None of these questions were ever present in dealing with the Soviets during the Cold War except in Kruschev's last years.

If certainty where an absolute the Us wouldn't be stuck in Iraq.

You can't beat a meeting to clear up uncertainty.

What would you get if you solved the problem with a treaty?

These diplomats saved thousands of lives and billions of dollars and they did without killing a single person!

Very funny Thomas

Wheel
The man is obviously joking. That's the problem with satire on the web: sometimes people will actually believe you.

Wheel
The man is obviously joking. That's the problem with satire on the web: sometimes people will actually believe you.

I was being facetious too. Sorry it came across so poorly.

Well, it's supposed to be satire, but if you look at satire closely you sometimes realize there is no dividing line between the parody and the reality.
Case in point--go rent a film entitled "Wrong is Right." It was made 25 years ago, as a comedy, but with amazing accuracy, right down to the suicide bombers, phony wmd's, and a dimwitted president from Texas in charge of it all, it predicted the situation we now find ourselves in in Iraq.
It has always amazed me the way history's jokes become reality.

Our exit strategy should be executed with the same precision masterfully engineered by Generals Powell/Swartzkoff during Desert Shield/Storm.

With all due respect the example of Desert Storm is hardly a fitting example. In point of fact, Schwarzkopf and Powell were in bitter opposition on it with the former wanting to route completely what was left of Saddam's army and the former wanting a hasty exit that left in place a very flawed armistice (there was never any formal treaty with Iraq ending that war) that allowed Saddam to annihilate the Shi'a in the south and the Kurds in the north after the Bush 41 administration had encouraged the Shi'a rising.

Just as with the current Iraqi war, the initial military operation was brilliantly led and executed. But also as with this war, what followed was far from satisfactory.

I respectfully disagree with you, Desert Storm is not a fitting example. Without getting into all the speculations on who wanted what..when, the bottom-line is, we went in took care of business and got our "arse" our there.

From everything I've read on this topic, you can't be brilliant on the front end and disastrous on the exit strategy, which the Bush Administration never by the way had one.

Bill Harrison

Just as with the current Iraqi war, the initial military operation was brilliantly led and executed. But also as with this war, what followed was far from satisfactory.

I think these guys might have just a little bit more experience than yourself about the Iraq War Operations, failures and lessons learned.

Quote From General Schwarzkopf; "I believe the magnificent performance of our forces and the totality of their victory have clearly established the tenor of after-action discussions--success. We planned, mobilized, deployed, and executed this operation farther from the shores of the continental United States than ever before. We applied military pawer beyond what our coalition partners--and indeed many Americans--could have imagined. Our accomplishments and successes greatly overshadow any identified shortfalls or deficiencies." - -General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA Commander-in-Chief U.S. Central Command, Preliminary Report on Lessons Learned, 5 April 1991

From almost any vantage point, Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM were tremendously successful. There has not been sufficient time to collect, sort and analyze all the data required for detailed tradeoff analyses between specific systems and programs. Nevertheless, some useful broad trends and conclusions are already apparent. This initial recapitulation of lessons learned underscores keys to victory which must be nurtured and reinforced. Vice Admiral S.R. Arthur, USN, Commander U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, Quick Look --First Impressions Report, 22 March 1991

To bad Chaney did follow his own advice;

"The United States Armed Forces, with the forces of allied coalition countries, achieved a great victory in the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi aggression. We must ensure that the lessons of Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM inform our decisions for the future." -- Memorandum from Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, 8 March 1991

My point is we should not be there for another 100 years, or 7 years, nor should we fail to negotiate, neither should we find ourselves bogged down in religious divisions in the Middle East that has pledge them from the beginning of time.

Get our troops out of there NOW is my bottom-line and I hope it becomes the next President's top priority.

In addition to not knowing apparently how to spell the vice president's name you also exhibit a profound lack of knowledge of the endgame of Desert Storm and its immediate aftermath. But preferring to light a candle than curse the darkness I'll give you a guide to light your way:

Not included in the U.S. demands was the deliverance of Saddam Hussein to stand trial at the world court. Schwarzkopf assured the Iraqis that the border separating the areas being occupied by the U.S. from the central part of Iraq that was unoccupied was temporary. The Iraqis claimed that they needed their helicopters to transport wounded soldiers and other tasks and asked if they could fly armed helicopters across this border. Schwartzkopt said yes. Later he was to say that he had been "suckered." In leaving the Iraqis the right to use their helicopters, helicopter gun ships were used in putting down the revolts against rule from Baghdad. Bush had encouraged risings against Hussein, and now Hussein's military was crushing these uprisings. Members of America's 1st Armored Division watched with frustration as Iraqis strode in front of them, waving their weapons. Pictures of Iraqi soldiers kicking and executing people were broadcast around the world.

I concurred with President George H.W. Bush's decision to end the campaign when he did but there can be little doubt that the armistice that followed and the entirely unsatisfactory UN sanctions regime that followed only allowed the problem to fester as all poor peace agreements do including the "mother of them all" the Treaty of Versailles which laid the foundation for the Second World War.

OK, so I spelled Dick's name wrong, take my birthday from me why don't you. Thanks for the miraculous light you've provide in the way of sarcasm and your self proclaimed expertise on Iraq.

Somebody salute this man and give him a cigar.

This fused sentence could have used a comma or two, looks like you can use some of that "light" you provided for me. But who cares-I see your point, I think.

I concurred with President George H.W. Bush's decision to end the campaign when he did but there can be little doubt that the armistice that followed and the entirely unsatisfactory UN sanctions regime that followed only allowed the problem to fester as all poor peace agreements do including the "mother of them all" the Treaty of Versailles which laid the foundation for the Second World War.

Bush invaded Iraq without provocation and has failed to meet the objective of taking on the "root cause" of Al Qaeda by targeting Arab tyranny a thousand miles away from the enemy—while the terrorist network continued to flourish in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

>Get our troops out of there "NOW" is my bottom-line and I hope it becomes the next President's top priority.

By what device will we discern whether the mullahs continue to dissemble in their negotiations?

Actions, same as for anyone else who might lie.

If only it was that simple. The task grows more difficult when hidden hands manipulate proxies; for example, Hezbollah.

Not sure what you mean. The bullets still fly in Israel. But the negotiators are and have been willing to work for peace.

In the real world, the risk of an Obama win will stimulate Israel to work hard to give Bush and Rice something big before November, especially if Rice is on the ticket.

Bullets still fly all over the ME. Should be toned down a bit, or a lot.

Many nations bleed even as we speak.

Agree. My intent was only to discuss the participants in the negotiations, not the combatants.