It has been a recurrent theme of my blogging for the past 17 months
to post links to articles and other blog posts that document the truth
about the war in Iraq. Arthur Chrenkoff and
the various milbloggers have done excellent work in that regard, as
well as quite a few other bloggers and political and military analysts
and commentators. Today there are a few really good items to take a
look at so I am going to do a little round up. (Two of the three were
linked by me earlier this weekend, but I am going to list them here
again because I want to be sure they don’t get lost in the Katrina
shuffle.)
A War to Be Proud Of
From The Weekly Standard article, The case for overthrowing Saddam was unimpeachable. Why, then, is the administration tongue-tied? by Christopher Hitchens (link via Ace) – Read it all.
Then read it again. Then clip out the portion listing ten good things
that came about as a result of the war in Iraq. Then mail it to the
White House and ask the President why the heck he can’t manage to work
a few of these bullet points into a speech or two. As Hitchens says:
“It would be admirable if the president could manage to
make such a presentation. It would also be welcome if he and his
deputies adopted a clear attitude toward the war within the war: in
other words, stated plainly, that the secular and pluralist forces
within Afghan and Iraqi society, while they are not our clients, can in
no circumstance be allowed to wonder which outcome we favor.”
Bombshell Revelation (that is my title, not Captain Ed’s) post at Captain’s Quarters
about an editorial in a Saddam controlled Iraqi newspaper that ran two
months before the 9/11 attacks which praises bin Laden and discusses
his plans to attack the White House, the Pentagon, and to make the
American “curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every time he hears his
songs.” Yes, that is right. The Iraq editorial predicted three 9/11
targets at the hands of bin Laden two months before the attacks.
Two
more interesting items about this bombshell – it was entered into the
Congressional record on 9/12/02 by Democrat Senator Fritz Hollings and
it was not mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report. Captain Ed has
much, much more on this. Read it all. Then read it again. Then print it
out and send it to Chris Matthews because he never misses an
opportunity to declare that many Americans think that Saddam was behind
9/11, but that it is a proven fact that there was no connection. I wish
Matthews would read this and this,
too. (Just for good measure, send a copy to the White House, too. I
don’t think they know about this. If they do, you can’t tell.)
UPDATE: Also read the transcript of Fritz Hollings’ statements linked
in a Captain’s Quarters update. It is almost impossible for me to
believe that a Democrat was saying such things as recently as just
three years ago. He was using the material to hammer Condi Rice and the
intelligence agencies for failing to connect the dots. Obviously it is
just my opinion, but I believe that if we had not gone into Iraq when
we did, regardless of whether an attack on America that could be traced
to Saddam ever came to pass, this President would be hammered as
vigorously today for not doing anything about Saddam as he is being
criticised today for doing something.
Meet The Press Exchange Between Gen. Wayne Downing and Tim Russert – My post is here
about what was said and what I think it shows. Downing made an
excellent point about the lack of context given to reporting of Iraq
War casualties:
Mr. Russert: All of you have had distinguished military
careers, leading men into war. We now have a majority of the American
people saying this war is a mistake. General Downing, how long can you
conduct a war that is not supported by a majority of the American
people?
Gen. Downing: Well, Tim, you absolutely have to
have the support of the American people. And the troops that we have in
Afghanistan and Iraq right now feel this very, very strongly. They want
the support. Quite frankly, I think one of the problems that we’re
having is that the news media, the opposition to the war are framing
this entire discussion in the terms of casualties and casualties only.
I think what we don’t have is a serious discussion about why you take
those casualties.
We’re not out there roaming the roads in
Iraq and Afghanistan, looking for IEDs to blow up. Everything we’re
doing in a military campaign, both the U.S., the coalition and the
Iraqi forces, are aimed at objectives.
Continue reading for Russert’s lame anti-war talking points in response
that don’t address anything Downing said. Also read my post (linked
above) about the other moments from the segment including the possible
reason Russert gives for not reporting the good news from Iraq. It is a
doosie.
UPDATE – ADDITION:
See No Evil, Hear No Evil by
Stephen Hayes in The Weekly Standard. Hayes tells the story of those
who were left out of the 9/11 Commission’s report – surprise, they are
Iraqis.
