JOHN MURTHA D-PA: THE SURGE IS WORKING, WHAT????

Murtha Changes Mind On Iraq

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), one of the leading anti-war voices in the House Democratic Caucus, is back from a trip to Iraq and he now says the “surge is working.” This could be a huge problem for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders, who are blocking approval of the full $200 billion being sought by President Bush for combat operations in Iraq in 2008.

Murtha’s latest comments are also a stark reversal from what he said earlier in the year. The Pennsylvania Democrat, who chairs the powerful Defense Subcommittee on the House Appropriations Committee, has previously stated that the surge “is not working” and the United States faced a military disaster in Iraq.

Back in July of this year Murtha said the following about the surge and Bush’s words that it’s working: “Well it’s delusional to say the least. As I said earlier, and you heard me say it, it’s a failed policy wrapped in illusion. Nothing’s gotten better. Incidents have increased. We have had more Americans killed in the last four months than any other period during the war.”



A top House Democratic aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Politico: “This could be a real headache for us. Pelosi is going to be furious.”

And rightfully so, of course, The sad part is that Pelosi will be furious with Murtha for him telling the truth. All evidence indicates that the surge is indeed working. That doesn’t mean that Iraq will be stable and peaceful within two months time, but it does mean that the strategy adopted by Bush this year is paying off and that it may be wise for the US to hang in there a while longer.

It also means that the Democrats were wrong.

And that they can’t deliver on their promise to withdraw the troops asap.

It’s amazing to see how the political landscape has changed. A couple of months ago Bush had no credibility left, Republicans were waiting to jump from the sinking ship… now, Democrats suddenly have a problem and a consensus is emerging that the surge is, truly, working. Suddenly, Republicans dont look so bad anymore do they?

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I am convinced there is NO WAY the Democrats can Run this Country, the War On Terror, National Security, or anything else at this point. Is this not the most Treasonous Turnabout by a Congressman you have ever heard?



MURTHA:
You low life, cowardly, scumbag! You were a nay sayer from the very beginning, you did everything you could to undermine and weaken our Troops and their families, which I happened to have been one not to long ago. You make me sick. You tried to drive down Troop Morale more than any former Veteran I have seen. You should'nt even be called a Veteran for turning on your own Countrymen during a time OF WAR!! You called our Troops "Murderers" "They are worn out, "They cant win this war" "They murdered Innocent Iraqi's In Haditha" (Which turned out NOT to be true) etc..etc..etc..

You know what? We knew all along the Surge would work and you tried to stop it. Our Troops will come home Victorious and that must gall you to death since you have been against this surge from the beginning.

You Know what Mr. Murtha? We supported our Troops all along this twisted road you assholes in Congress have put us on. You Havent. We have supported our Troops ALL ALONG, you didnt. You have put all Military families through absolute hell, You have played Political football with our Troops lives by bouncing around Troop funding for our Soldiers on the battlefeild, in harms way, NOW. As far as I'm concerned, you Mr. Murtha can kiss my ass! Because your opinion, nor any of the Democrats matters anymore! F*** YOU!!!

CNN/YouTube Republican Setup/Debate

As if we needed this nonsense! YouTube Debate P'SHAW!! But I guess I should do one of these.

Rudy Giuliani


Giuliani got off to a great start and then faded out when it got to the 2nd amendment, sanctuary cities, and who Romney employed at his home. Would be great in the War On Terror however.
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Mike Huckabee


Huckabee sounded great, answered all the questions, gave some great one liners, (Sending Hillary To Mars Stole The Show), sounded very convincing and believable. Not sure how he would handle the War On Terror.
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Duncan Hunter


Hunter, wonderful. He had a plan for everything, yet I wonder if his plans to pay for and implement the plans he has will cost us all something in the long run. Would be great on border issues. Dont know how he would handle the War On Terror.
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John McCain


Excellent come backs. Great one liners, to soft on immigration, water boarding, and taxes. Hangs out with the Liberals too much, Would be great in the War On Terror, but that's about all I can give him.
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Ron Paul


Well what can we say about Ron Paul that has'nt already been said? He rambled on with his wild vision for America that will never go over with the American voter. Then again he was being, well.....Ron Paul.
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Mitt Romney


Did Great! Look's Presidential. Has alot of plans also. I like the talk of the use of his veto pen. Not sure how he would manage the War On Terror.
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Tom Tancredo


Seal the border or this man will haunt you for the rest of your life. Great on the border issues, not sure how he would handle the War On Terror.
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Fred Thompson


Excellent. A little more gumption in this debate. Has a plan for everything AND a way to pay for it. Great on Taxes, Social Security, National Security, the Global War On Terror. Wont put up with Islamic Terrorist Crap. Snappy comebacks, gave Ron Paul what for. Want's States to take more responsibility for what goes on in thier states rather than the Federal Govt. Look's Presidential. Did ALOT better in this debate than previous debates. Know's exactly how to handle the War On Terror.
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What was with all the stupid questions? I am hearing the YouTube "supposed" undecided Republican Voters (As was described By Anderson Cooper) were mostly Democrat plants! I didnt know having gay's in the Military was a huge issue in this Presidential Election! BECAUSE IT ISNT!!! Farm Subsidies? A Rebel Flag? The Bible? What would Jesus do? This was as bad as stuffing Spinach funding into a Troop Funding Bill! The YouTube crowd steered clear from asking the real questions: Taxes, The Border, The War On Terror, Foreign Policy, Education, Medical, etc.. Which makes me think the stories I am hearing about Democrat plant's is right!

So still confused? I cant blame you because this was one stupid debate.

Who won this loopy debate? I say Fred, but let's hear from YOU!!!

UPDATE:

REPORT: CNN Republican questioners were DECLARED Edwards and Obama voters...

McCain: 'I think it should have been revealed'...

MSNBC HOST: 'Total crap to suggest that nobody in CNN knew'...

VIDEO: Anderson Cooper's Mea Culpa...

CNN Cooper: 'I had not heard that he's actually working for a campaign. If so, that would certainly be an issue that should be addressed immediately'...

RED STATE CALLS FOR HEADS TO ROLL AT CNN

RED STATE: CNN's PERFORMANCE WAS UNACCEPTABLE. THERE SHOULD BE A DO OVER OF THIS DEBATE.


BOOB TUBE: CNN 'DUPED' BY HILLARY PLANT AT REPUBLICAN DEBATE


Hmmmmm

UPDATE:

McCain Slams CNN Over Gay General

Conservative Group Threaten Legal Action Against CNN


REDSTATE: A "Do Over" Debate

Democrats Changing Subject On Iraq As Success Is At Hand

On Iraq, Times Catches Democrats Changing The Subject

As success on the ground in Iraq becomes undeniable, reporter Patrick Healy sees a "tonal shift" among Democrats.

What gives? On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, some among the Times' liberal readership no doubt got early indigestion from the paper's front-page headline, "Baghdad Starts to Exhale as Security Improves."

This Sunday reporter Patrick Healy took the domestic political angle, looking at how the current success on the ground in Iraq is playing among the Democrats running for president, in "As Democrats See Iraq Gains, A Shift in Tone -- Domestic Issues Given a Heavier Emphasis."

"As violence declines in Baghdad, the leading Democratic presidential candidates are undertaking a new and challenging balancing act on Iraq: acknowledging that success, trying to shift the focus to the lack of political progress there, and highlighting more domestic concerns like health care and the economy."



"Lately, as the killing in Baghdad and other areas has declined, the Democratic candidates have been dwelling less on the results of the troop escalation than on the lack of new government accords in Iraq -- a tonal shift from last summer and fall when American military commanders were preparing to testify before Congress asking for more time to allow the surge to show results.

"This is a delicate matter. By saying the effects of the troop escalation have not led to a healthier political environment, the candidates are tacitly acknowledging that the additional troops have, in fact, made a difference on the ground -- a viewpoint many Democratic voters might not embrace."

It's quite a "tonal shift" for the Times itself, which just over a month ago declared in the lead sentence to a lead editorial:

"The news out of Iraq just keeps getting worse."

And liberal blogger Kevin Drum is "pissed off" about Healy's report.

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Beautiful Troop Tribute

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Well does'nt this figure? What will the Democrat's position be today on Iraq? THEY DONT HAVE ONE!! They have worked themselves into a real pickle. No wonder they are changing the subject.

RON PAUL PICKS UP ENDORSEMENT FROM WHOREHOUSE!

Perhaps nothing better exemplifies the libertarian streak that runs through Nevada than the state's permissive policy on prostitution -- the ultimate expression of the live-and-let-live philosophy.

So, it should be no surprise that the presidential candidate with the purest libertarian bona fides picked up some X-rated support while campaigning in Reno last week.

To be more explicit, Nevada brothel owner Dennis Hof declared his support for Republican contender Ron Paul during Paul's campaign swing through the state.

The odd thing about it, however, is that it came about with the help of television news personality Tucker Carlson.

Carlson, who hosts the show "Tucker" on MSNBC, is traveling with Paul for a magazine article he is writing.

"Dennis Hof is a good friend of mine, so when we got to Nevada, I decided to call him up and see if he wanted to come check this guy out," Carlson said.

Paul spokesman Jeff Greenspan said Paul's campaign were surprised to see Carlson emerge from a limousine with Hof and two of his celebrity prostitutes to attend the morning's news conference at Lawlor Events Center.

Following the news conference, Hof said he was so impressed that he wanted to start raising money for Paul.



"I'll do it today," he said. "I'll get all the Bunnies together, and we can raise him some money. I'll put up a collection box outside the door. They can drop in $1 dollar, $5 dollar contributions."

Hof's prostitutes, Air Force Amy and Brooke Taylor, said they liked Paul's message, but wanted to learn more about the other candidates before making a decision.

Paul is an ardent libertarian who believes in returning the purview of the federal government back to what is articulated in the U.S. Constitution. He's a diehard supporter of states 'rights.

He's also a devout Christian, who opposes abortion.

"On a personal basis, he doesn't condone those things," Greenspan said about prostitution. "At the same time, from his campaign perspective, it's not the role of federal government and it's not in the constitution for federal government to regulate these things. The Nevada voters and Legislature have decided it is a legal activity in this state."

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Isnt this dandy? Can this campaign of Paul's get any more freaky? The people supporting this loon are truly ill. Brothel's, 9-11 Conspiracy theory nuts, oh Sweet Jesus this is the craziest election I have ever seen.
"Prostitutes for Paul", I can see it now!

Happy Thanksgiving

Baghdad Exhales/ WAY TO GO TROOPS!!!

I CANT BELIEVE THIS MADE THE FRONT PAGE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES!!!

November 20, 2007
Baghdad’s Weary Start to Exhale as Security Improves

BAGHDAD, Nov. 19 — Five months ago, Suhaila al-Aasan lived in an oxygen tank factory with her husband and two sons, convinced that they would never go back to their apartment in Dora, a middle-class neighborhood in southern Baghdad.

Today she is home again, cooking by a sunlit window, sleeping beneath her favorite wedding picture. And yet, she and her family are remarkably alone. The half-dozen other apartments in her building echo with emptiness and, on most days, Iraqi soldiers are the only neighbors she sees.

“I feel happy,” she said, standing in her bedroom, between a flowered bedspread and a bullet hole in the wall. “But my happiness is not complete. We need more people to come back. We need more people to feel safe.”

Mrs. Aasan, 45, a Shiite librarian with an easy laugh, is living at the far end of Baghdad’s tentative recovery. She is one of many Iraqis who in recent weeks have begun to test where they can go and what they can do when fear no longer controls their every move.

The security improvements in most neighborhoods are real. Days now pass without a car bomb, after a high of 44 in the city in February. The number of bodies appearing on Baghdad’s streets has plummeted to about 5 a day, from as many as 35 eight months ago, and suicide bombings across Iraq fell to 16 in October, half the number of last summer and down sharply from a recent peak of 59 in March, the American military says.

As a result, for the first time in nearly two years, people are moving with freedom around much of this city. In more than 50 interviews across Baghdad, it became clear that while there were still no-go zones, more Iraqis now drive between Sunni and Shiite areas for work, shopping or school, a few even after dark. In the most stable neighborhoods of Baghdad, some secular women are also dressing as they wish. Wedding bands are playing in public again, and at a handful of once shuttered liquor stores customers now line up outside in a collective rebuke to religious vigilantes from the Shiite Mahdi Army.

Iraqis are clearly surprised and relieved to see commerce and movement finally increase, five months after an extra 30,000 American troops arrived in the country. But the depth and sustainability of the changes remain open to question.

By one revealing measure of security — whether people who fled their home have returned — the gains are still limited. About 20,000 Iraqis have gone back to their Baghdad homes, a fraction of the more than 4 million who fled nationwide, and the 1.4 million people in Baghdad who are still internally displaced, according to a recent Iraqi Red Crescent Society survey.

Iraqis sound uncertain about the future, but defiantly optimistic. Many Baghdad residents seem to be willing themselves to normalcy, ignoring risks and suppressing fears to reclaim their lives. Pushing past boundaries of sect and neighborhood, they said they were often pleasantly surprised and kept going; in other instances, traumatic memories or a dark look from a stranger were enough to tug them back behind closed doors.

Mrs. Aasan’s experience, as a member of the brave minority of Iraqis who have returned home, shows both the extent of the improvements and their limits.

She works at an oasis of calm: a small library in eastern Baghdad, where on several recent afternoons, about a dozen children bounced through the rooms, reading, laughing, learning English and playing music on a Yamaha keyboard.

Brightly colored artwork hangs on the walls: images of gardens, green and lush; Iraqi soldiers smiling; and Arabs holding hands with Kurds.

It is all deliberately idyllic. Mrs. Aasan and the other two women at the library have banned violent images, guiding the children toward portraits of hope. The children are also not allowed to discuss the violence they have witnessed.

“Our aim is to fight terrorism,” Mrs. Aasan said. “We want them to overcome their personal experiences.”

The library closed last year because parents would not let their children out of sight. Now, most of the children walk on their own from homes nearby — another sign of the city’s improved ease of movement.

But there are scars in the voice of a ponytailed little girl who said she had less time for fun since her father was incapacitated by a bomb. (“We try to make him feel better and feel less pain,” she said.) And pain still lingers in the silence of Mrs. Aasan’s 10-year-old son, Abather, who accompanies her wherever she goes.

One day five months ago, when they still lived in Dora, Mrs. Aasan sent Abather to get water from a tank below their apartment. Delaying as boys will do, he followed his soccer ball into the street, where he discovered two dead bodies with their eyeballs torn out. It was not the first corpse he had seen, but for Mrs. Aasan that was enough. “I grabbed him, we got in the car and we drove away,” she said.

After they heard on an Iraqi news program that her section of Dora had improved, she and her husband explored a potential return. They visited and found little damage, except for a bullet hole in their microwave.

Two weeks ago, they moved back to the neighborhood where they had lived since 2003.

“It’s just a rental,” Mrs. Aasan said, as if embarrassed at her connection to such a humble place. “But after all, it’s home.”

In interviews, she and her husband said they felt emboldened by the decline in violence citywide and the visible presence of Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint a few blocks away.

Still, it was a brave decision, one her immediate neighbors have not yet felt bold enough to make. Mrs. Aasan’s portion of Dora still looks as desolate as a condemned tenement. The trunk of a palm tree covers a section of road where Sunni gunmen once dumped a severed head, and about 200 yards to the right of her building concrete Jersey barriers block a section of homes believed to be booby-trapped with explosives.

“On this street,” she said, standing on her balcony, “many of my neighbors lost relatives.” Then she rushed inside.

Her husband, Fadhel A. Yassen, 49, explained that they had seen several friends killed while they sat outside in the past. He insisted that being back in the apartment was “a victory over fear, a victory over terrorism.”

Yet the achievement remains rare. Many Iraqis say they would still rather leave the country than go home. In Baghdad there are far more families like the Nidhals. The father, who would only identify himself as Abu Nebras (father of Nebras), is Sunni; Hanan, his wife, is a Shiite from Najaf, the center of Shiite religious learning in Iraq. They lived for 17 years in Ghazaliya in western Baghdad until four gunmen from Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni extremist group that American intelligence agencies say is led by foreigners, showed up at his door last December.

“My sons were armed and they went away but after that, we knew we had only a few hours,” Abu Nebras said. “We were displaced because I was secular and Al Qaeda didn’t like that.”

They took refuge in the middle-class Palestine Street area in the northeastern part of Baghdad, a relatively stable enclave with an atmosphere of tolerance for their mixed marriage. Now with the situation improving across the city, the Nidhal family longs to return to their former home, but they have no idea when, or if, it will be possible.

Another family now lives in their house — the situation faced by about a third of all displaced Iraqis, according to the International Organization for Migration — and it is not clear whether the fragile peace will last. Abu Nebras tested the waters recently, going back to talk with neighbors on his old street for the first time.

He said the Shiites in the northern part of Ghazaliya had told him that the American military’s payments to local Sunni volunteers in the southern, Sunni part of the neighborhood amounted to arming one side.

The Americans describe the volunteers as heroes, part of a larger nationwide campaign known as the Sunni Awakening. But Abu Nebras said he did not trust them. “Some of the Awakening members are just Al Qaeda who have joined them,” he said. “I know them from before.”

With the additional American troops scheduled to depart, the Nidhal family said, Baghdad would be truly safe only when the Iraqi forces were mixed with Sunnis and Shiites operating checkpoints side by side — otherwise the city would remain a patchwork of Sunni and Shiite enclaves. “The police, the army, it has to be Sunni next to Shiite next to Sunni next to Shiite,” Abu Nebras said.

They and other Iraqis also said the government must aggressively help people return to their homes, perhaps by supervising returns block by block. The Nidhal family said they feared the displaced Sunnis in their neighborhood who were furious that Shiites chased them from their houses. “They are so angry, they will kill anyone,” Abu Nebras said.

For now, though, they are trying to enjoy what may be only a temporary respite from violence. One of their sons recently returned to his veterinary studies at a university in Baghdad, and their daughter will start college this winter.

Laughter is also more common now in the Nidhal household — even on once upsetting subjects. At midday, Hanan’s sister, who teaches in a local high school, came home and threw up her hands in exasperation. She had asked her Islamic studies class to bring in something that showed an aspect of Islamic culture. “Two boys told me, ‘I’m going to bring in a portrait of Moktada al-Sadr,’” she said.

She shook her head and chuckled. Mr. Sadr is an anti-American cleric whose militia, the Mahdi Army, has been accused of carrying out much of the displacement and killings of Sunnis in Baghdad. They can joke because they no longer fear that the violence will engulf them.

In longer interviews across Baghdad, the pattern was repeated. Iraqis acknowledged how far their country still needed to go before a return to normalcy, but they also expressed amazement at even the most embryonic signs of recovery.

Mrs. Aasan said she was thrilled and relieved just a few days ago, when her college-aged son got stuck at work after dark and his father managed to pick him up and drive home without being killed.

“Before, when we lived in Dora, after 4 p.m., I wouldn’t let anyone out of the house,” she said.

“They drove back to Dora at 8!” she added, glancing at her husband, who beamed, chest out, like a mountaineer who had scaled Mount Everest. “We really felt that it was a big difference.”
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OMG! OMG! OMG! We got Al-Qaeda whooped!! WAY TO GO TROOPS WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Can we brake out the Champagne yet?

Fred Thompson On Immigration

Our Soldiers Are Very Inventive

Soldiers in Iraq fed up with Harry Reid have a surprise waiting for the Senate Majority Leader should he come back for a visit.

SENATE STABS TROOPS IN THE BACK AGAIN, HARRY REID "FIND MONEY SOMEWHERE ELSE"

Senate Blocks Two-Fold Democratic Proposal to Withdraw US Troops and Fund the War in Iraq

FUND THE TROOPS....FUND THE TROOPS....FUND THE TROOPS....FUND THE TROOPS....



The Senate on Friday blocked a Democratic proposal to pay for the Iraq war but require that troops start coming home.

The 53-45 vote was 15 votes short of the 60 needed to advance. It came minutes after the Senate rejected a Republican proposal to pay for the Iraq war without strings attached.

The Republican measure failed by an identical vote.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the only way to get troops the money was to approve the restrictions outlined by Democrats.

"Our troops continue to fight and die valiantly. And our Treasury continues to be depleted rapidly, for a peace that we seem far more interested in achieving than Iraq's own political leaders," said Reid, D-Nev.

Republicans said Democrats were being irresponsible.

"We need to get our troops everything they need," said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "We need to get it to them right now."

Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said this week that if Congress cannot pass legislation that ties war money to troop withdrawals, they would not send Bush a bill this year.

Instead, they would revisit the issue upon returning in January, pushing the Pentagon to the brink of an accounting nightmare and deepening Democrats' conflict with the White House on the war.

In the meantime, Democrats say, the Pentagon can eat into its $471 billion annual budget without being forced to take drastic steps.

"The days of a free lunch are over," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that unless Congress passes funding for the war within days, he will direct the Army and Marine Corps to begin developing plans to lay off employees and terminate contracts early next year.

Gates, who met with lawmakers on Wednesday, said he does not have the money or the flexibility to move funds around to adequately cover the costs of the continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"There is a misperception that this department can continue funding our troops in the field for an indefinite period of time through accounting maneuvers, that we can shuffle money around the department. This is a serious misconception," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon.

As a result, he said he is faced with the undesirable task of preparing to cease operations at Army bases by mid-February, and lay off about 100,000 defense department employees and an equal number of civilian contractors. A month later, he said, similar moves would have to be made by the Marines.

Some members of Congress believe the Pentagon can switch enough money to cover the war accounts, Gates said. But he added that he only has the flexibility to transfer about $3.7 billion, which is just one week's worth of war expenses. Lawmakers, he said, may not understand how complicated and restrictive the situation is.

Story Here

UPDATE:

Reid keeps Senate In Session Over Thanksgiving Holiday

Hey Reid! How about funding the Troops while you are at it asshole?

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In a few days the Troops will start running out of money. Right while they are winning. I am so pissed right now I cant stand it. Time to make phone calls again.

Dingey Harry Reid Threatens Troop Funding Again

Here We Go Again

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday that Democrats won't approve more money for the Iraq war this year unless President Bush agrees to begin bringing troops home.

By the end of the week, the House and Senate planned to vote on a $50 billion measure for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill would require Bush to initiate troop withdrawals immediately with the goal of ending combat by December 2008.

If Bush vetoes the bill, "then the president won't get his $50 billion," Reid, D-Nev., told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference.



House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., made a similar statement last week in a closed-door caucus meeting.

The tough rhetoric does not necessarily foretell another veto showdown with Bush on the war. Similar legislation has routinely fallen short of the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles in the Senate. It is possible the upcoming bill will sink, in which case Democrats would probably wait until next year to revisit the issue.

But their remarks reflect an emerging Democratic strategy on the war: Force congressional Republicans and Bush to accept a timetable for troop withdrawals, or turn Pentagon accounting processes into a bureaucratic nightmare.

If Democrats refuse to send Bush the $50 billion, the military would have to drain its annual budget to keep the wars afloat. Last week, Congress approved a $471 billion budget for the military that pays mostly for non-war related projects, such as depot maintenance and weapons development.

The tactic stops short of blocking money outright from being used on the war, an approach that has divided Democrats and fueled Republican criticism that Democrats are eager to abandon the troops. But forcing the Pentagon into a painful budget dance to pay for the wars spares Democrats from having to write a blank check on the unpopular war.

"We will and we must pay for whatever cost to protect the American people," said House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. "But tragically, unfortunately, incredibly, the war is not making us safer."



In a recent letter to Congress, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England warned that the Army was on track to run out of money by February.

England also said that without more money the military would eventually have to close facilities, layoff civilian workers and defer contracts. Also, the budget delay could disrupt training efforts of Iraqi security forces and efforts to protect troops against roadside bombs, he said.

"The successes they (the troops ) have achieved in recent months will be short lived without appropriate resources to continue their good work," England wrote in a Nov. 8 letter.

A White House spokesman said Bush would veto any legislation that sets a timetable for troop withdrawals.

In a speech in Indiana on Tuesday, Bush said Congress should not leave for Christmas recess without passing a clean war spending bill.

"We don't need members of Congress telling our military commanders what to do," he said. "We need our military commanders telling us what to do so we can win the war against these extremists and radicals."

Congressional Republicans said they would back the president.

"It's very clear that the American people want us to succeed," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. "They would like for our troops to be able to come home, but not in a losing cause."

The House was expected to vote as early as Wednesday, with the Senate following suit by the end of the week.

The bill is similar to one Bush rejected in May. Unable to muster the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto, Democrats stripped the timetable from the $95 billion bill and approved the war money without restrictions.



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Oh why cant these Democrat's just leave the war to the President and the General's on the ground to tell us what they need to finish this mission? Why must Congress insist on Micromanaging this war? They have litterally taken leave of their senses. Can we put Congress under House Arrest?

UPDATE:

House Passes $50B Iraq Withdrawal Bill

Veteran's Day

To all who serve and who have served I Salute You!

A HANDFUL OF A**HOLES

LOL!

CONGRADULATIONS TROOPS!!!

Woooooooooooooooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooooooooooooo

Militant Group Is Out of Baghdad, U.S. Says

Believe it or not this is buried on page 18 of the New York Times!

American forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the “surge” to depart as planned.

Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of United States forces in Baghdad, also said that American troops had yet to clear some 13 percent of the city, including Sadr City and several other areas controlled by Shiite militias. But, he said, “there’s just no question” that violence had declined since a spike in June.

“Murder victims are down 80 percent from where they were at the peak,” and attacks involving improvised bombs are down 70 percent, he said.

General Fil attributed the decline to improvements in the Iraqi security forces, a cease-fire ordered by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, the disruption of financing for insurgents, and, most significant, Iraqis’ rejection of “the rule of the gun.”

His comments, in a broad interview over egg rolls and lo mein in a Green Zone conference room, were the latest in a series of upbeat assessments he and other commanders have offered in recent months. But his descriptions revealed a city still in transition: tormented by its past, struggling to find a better future.

“The Iraqi people have just decided that they’ve had it up to here with violence,” he said, while noting that their demands for electricity, water and jobs have intensified.

Christians, Muslims Erect Cross In Baghdad


Michael Yon, Knoxnews

Hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced families are returning to their homes, but a majority of them are still afraid to go back to neighborhoods now segregated by sect. “Clearly,” General Fil said, “it will take some time for Baghdad to restore itself to what it was.”

He and other military commanders have maintained for months that the conditions for national reconciliation have been met. They argue that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni extremist group that American intelligence agencies say is foreign-led, has been weakened. They cite in particular the rise of the American-supported citizen volunteers — 67,000 nationwide, according to military figures.

And though Sunni extremist groups could revive and “reinfest very quickly,” General Fil said, Iraq’s leaders should now have the peace they need to build a trusted, cross-sectarian government.

Soon, General Fil said, there will be fewer troops for the Iraqis to rely on. “Already we are at a point where we’ll see that as the surge forces depart the city, we’ll see a natural decline in numbers, and I’m very comfortable where that comes to,” he said.

With less than two months to go before his division heads home, General Fil offered a mixed vision of the military’s role for the coming year. He said that if 2007 was the year of security, 2008 would probably be “a year of reconstruction, a year of infrastructure repair, and a year of, if there’s going to be a surge, a year of the surge of the economy.”

He acknowledged that dislodging Shiite militias from control of gasoline, government ministries and other sources of power would be difficult.

The biggest threat to Baghdad’s security is now Shiite militias, he said. Infrastructure weaknesses and unemployment are also serious obstacles, which American efforts at the local level cannot fully address because “these become national-level problems,” he said.

American troops have recently focused more operations on the farm towns and dusty villages of the country, with the latest coming this week outside Kirkuk in the north.

The operations are aimed at maintaining what General Fil described as vital momentum. The greatest challenge of the coming months, he said, will be satisfying the delicate hopes and expectations of Iraqis, who see security not as an end, but just as a beginning.

Stability, General Fil said, “is within sight but not yet within touch.”

“Close, but not yet within touch.”


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What was that Dingey Harry? The War Is Lost? Our brave Troops have put up with the most vicious attacks we have ever seen in our own Country, they have been belittled, told they couldnt win, accused of horrible crimes most of them never committed, had stooges like the Code Pinkos and the Westboro Baptist Lunatics protest at the fallen Soldiers funerals, spit on Soldiers, and outright lie about our Troops. John Murtha and John Kerry calling them murderers. And through all the muk our Troops are coming out of this Victorious!! I am so Proud of our Troops I am going to hug everyone of them I see (I usually just shake thier hands) but they deserve hugs ALL of them. No matter if they have been to Iraq or not. And the next Code Pinko I see is getting slapped!!

Also Blogging:

Red S Tater

The Liberal Lie The Conservative Truth

Spark's From The Anvil

3 Cheers For French President Sarkozy

U.S.-France Relations on an Upswing

French President Nicolas Sarkozy opened a new, cozier chapter in U.S.-French relations, saying he came to Washington with a simple message: "I wish to reconquer the heart of America in a lasting fashion."



Yet Sarkozy, whose trip included a scheduled address to Congress on Wednesday, didn't sidestep the fact that President Bush and the war in Iraq remain unpopular in his country.

"I also came to say that one can be a friend of America, and yet win elections in France," Sarkozy joked during his toast at a White House dinner where the two leaders dined on lobster bisque and lamb.



That's not something Bush would have heard from former French President Jacques Chirac who publicly clashed with Bush, especially over the war.

Sarkozy's address to a joint meeting of Congress will highlight the improved relations. In 1996, many U.S. lawmakers boycotted a similar appearance by Chirac to protest France's nuclear testing in the South Pacific.




Sarkozy will reflect broadly on his vision for French-American relations but will not to make great policy announcements, according to the French Embassy.

Iran and the Middle East peace efforts were likely to dominate Sarkozy's discussions with Bush as the two countries look to build on their warmer relations to look for ways to improve policy coordination.

In his toast Tuesday night, Bush didn't mention France's opposition to the war. Instead, he spoke of working with France to help others around the world resist tyranny and oppression.



"French and American troops are helping defend a young democracy in Afghanistan," said Bush, who was taking Sarkozy at midday Wednesday to Mount Vernon, which was the Virginia home of George Washington.

"Our two nations support the democratic government in Lebanon. We agree that reconciliation and democracy in Iraq are vital to the future of the Middle East. And our two nations condemn violations of human rights in Darfur, in Burma and around the world," Bush said.



Sarkozy - known in France as "Sarko the American" - described the U.S.-French relationship as "simple," yet "always beautiful." In his remarks in the State Dining Room, he spoke with passion about freedom and liberty and the need for U.S.-French cooperation in addressing terrorism, nuclear proliferation, poverty and religious fanaticism.

"I've come to Washington to bear a very simple, straightforward message. ... I wish to re-conquer the heart of America. I want to re-conquer the heart of America in a lasting fashion," he said.

The French president also paid tribute to American veterans who fought in World War II and ended by proclaiming "Long live Franco-American friendship."



Sarkozy, who was seated next to first lady Laura Bush, came to the White House alone. He and his wife, Cecilia, announced their divorce on Oct. 18, a first for a French head of state.

The U.S. and France back tough diplomacy to keep Iran from having nuclear weapons. They have jointly sponsored U.N. resolutions supporting Lebanese sovereignty. And while France fiercely opposed the war in Iraq, Sarkozy sent his foreign minister on a surprise three-day trek to Baghdad in August to enhance France's role in Iraq's future.

"I never quite understood why we had to fight with the United States," Sarkozy said earlier in the day at a meeting of the French-American Business Council.

Sarkozy, an energetic 52-year-old conservative, has wasted no time in his bid to modernize France, in part by trying to inject an American-style work ethic. As a sign of his pro-American tendencies, he took a summer vacation in the United States, causing a stir back home.

In August, he visited Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H., about 50 miles from the Bush compound known as Walker's Point. Sarkozy stopped by the Bush family compound, which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean, and the two leaders took a speed boat ride and had an American-style picnic of hot dogs, hamburgers and baked beans.

Story Here

Sarkozy Opens His Arms To President Bush And US

Sarkozy, in Prepared Speech to Congress, Says Friendship and Alliance Is Strong
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Boy this guy loves President Bush and the United States Of America. It's nice to have our old ally France Back Again :-) LOL! Check out the look on President Bush's face when Sarkozy Kisses Laura's Hand.

Also Blogging:

Mike's America

Spark's From The Anvil

Kucinich: Impeach Cheney Now

Kucinich Pushes Impeach Cheney Resolution

IMPEACH DENNIS KUCINICH....IMPEACH DENNIS KUCINICH....IMPEACH DENNIS KUCINICH....

IMPEACH RON PAUL TOO....IMPEACH RON PAUL TOO....IMPEACH RON PAUL TOO....

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) plans to take to the floor of the House Tuesday and introduce a privileged resolution to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. The privilege approach allows him to circumvent Democratic leadership, which opposes voting on the measure.

His resolution will be met with a motion to table it. A vote against the motion will be a vote in favor of impeaching Cheney – as Kucinich explains over and over in this...



....YouTube clip taken from a presidential campaign stop.

An American Research Group poll this summer found more than half of Americans support his impeachment.No telling how many supported Dennis Kucinich Impeachment.



Regardless, the measure is expected to fail by a wide margin.

Kucinich Pushes Cheney Impeachment

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Kucinich: Impeach Cheney Now
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PLEASE!!! Has Congress NOTHING better to do than try to Impeach Cheney? How about passing SCHIP? Money For The Troops? etc.. etc..
IMPEACH KUCINICH!! Then you in Congress can take off early for the Holidays since you arent going to do anything constructive anyway.

UPDATE: The Idiot Did It!

Dennis Kucinich D-OHIO Introduces Articles of Impeachment against Richard B. Cheney Vice President Of The United States.

By The Way, Anybody Happen To Mention The War Lately? Of Course Not, We're WINNING!!!

Here are a few *snips* and links of some really good stories I saw this week about all the Progress being made in Iraq. Since The MSM Wont Tell You, I Will :-)

Only ABC Reports Military's Stats on
Violence Plunging in Iraq

Lt. General Raymond Ordierno on Thursday reported significant progress in reduced violence in Iraq, but of the broadcast network evening newscasts only ABC's World News bothered to cover the positive trend as anchor Charles Gibson introduced a full story on how "military officials gave one of the most upbeat assessments of the security situation in Iraq that we have heard since the opening months of the war." The CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly skipped the positive trend, but CBS had time for a story on the investigation of the September shooting of civilians by Blackwater and NBC aired a piece on Hillary Clinton "playing the gender card." The Washington Post and New York Times on Friday also made very different news judgments on the importance of the positive direction as the Post put the news on its front page while the Times hid it in a story, on an inside page, about Iran's role in Iraq.

Media Research Center
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IRAQ: Casualties Lower 5 Months Straight.


Kevin McCullough, TownHall
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Turning Point For America In Iraq

The United States is winning the war in Iraq with the objectives of President Bush’s military surge this year “largely being met”, General David Petraeus told Congress yesterday.

Speaking ahead of a desperate White House attempt this week to secure extra time for the strategy before the patience of the American public runs out, the US military commander in Iraq declared that uneven but substantial progress had been made this year.

He said that Iraqi forces were now able to “shoulder more of the load” and al-Qaeda had been thrown “off-balance”, particularly in Anbar province.

Citing US military figures that are disputed by some independent studies, he claimed that the overall level of violence and killing had fallen dramatically since the surge began. General Petraeus paid tribute to advice provided by British commanders on counter-insurgency tactics that were pioneered in Northern Ireland.

TimesOnline.Com
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Editorial Page In Denial Over Good News In Iraq

"The news out of Iraq just keeps getting worse," the lead editorial blares. Does that "news" include the 70% reported drop in violence since the end of June?

The Times, in denial over good news out of Iraq. Even the anti-war newswire Reuters has seen some light of late:

"Violence in Iraq has dropped by 70 percent since the end of June, when U.S. forces completed their build-up of 30,000 extra troops to stabilize the war-torn country, the Interior Ministry said on Monday."

Only the Times remains oblivious. Here's the lede to Tuesday's lead editorial, "Even Closer to the Brink," keyed to reports that Kurd guerillas are killing Turkish soldiers, with Turkey threatening to send troops into Iraq to counterattack.

"The news out of Iraq just keeps getting worse."

Putting aside the 70% drop in deaths, of course.

TimesWatch.Org

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Hat Tip To Sparks From The Anvil For the Photos

Violence In Iraq Drops Sharply: Ministry

Violence in Iraq has dropped by 70 percent since the end of June, when U.S. forces completed their build-up of 30,000 extra troops to stabilize the war-torn country, the Interior Ministry said on Monday.

The ministry released the new figures as bomb blasts in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul killed five people and six gunmen died in clashes with police in the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala south of the Iraqi capital.

Washington began dispatching reinforcements to Iraq in February to try to buy Iraq's feuding political leaders time to reach a political accommodation to end violence between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs that has killed tens of thousands and forced millions from their homes.

While the leaders have failed to agree on key laws aimed at reconciling the country's warring sects, the troop buildup has succeeded in quelling violence.

Under the plan, U.S. troops left their large bases and set up combat outposts in neighborhoods while launching a series of summer offensives against Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, other Sunni Arab militants and Shi'ite militias in the Baghdad beltway.

Reuters
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Bush: Iraqis Are 'Taking Back' Iraq

President Bush said Friday that U.S. military deaths have fallen to their lowest levels in 19 months and the Iraqi people are slowly "taking back their country" amid the American troop build up there.
Speaking at a graduation ceremony for new soldiers at Fort Jackson, Bush said that parts of Iraq continue to be violent and that terrorists remain determined.

"But what they have learned about the United States of America is that we are more determined," Bush said. "We are more determined to protect ourselves and to help people realize the blessings of freedom."

Bush said corruption remains a problem and unemployment remains high, but that Iraqi forces have now assumed responsibility in security in eight of Iraq's 18 provinces.

"With our help, the Iraqi people are going on the offense against the enemy. They're confronting the terrorists and they're are taking their country back."

Before he spoke, he took a tour of the school's "fit-to-win course," which requires recruits to negotiate up to twenty obstacles. He addressed about 180 soldiers at the site deep in the piney woods, telling them he was proud of their efforts and that they would help secure a peaceful future for America.

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We are WINNING this front in the War On Terror in Iraq and it's barely getting mentioned anywhere. Why am I not surprised? I guess it's up to us to Update everyone on what progress is being made in Iraq. What a Magnificent bunch of Soldiers we have. WAY TO GO TROOPS!!!!

Also Blogging:

Is This Life?

Dont Be An Illegal Alien In Oklahoma

Illegals Flee Oklahoma as New Law is Poised to take Effect

Oklahoma House Bill 1804, also know as the "Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007" Is set to go into effect this week. For details on its exact measures, please read OK Law Enforcement Resistant to HB 1804. The good news is that it seems to be having the desired effect. Hispanic advocates from across the state say it has already raised the fear of arrest and thousands of illegal immigrants are fleeing Oklahoma.




I will echo the sentiments of Red S Tater. This bill is not about the color of your skin or your ethnic background. It is about removing those who have broken the law to be here. Period. The ACLU and other Left Wing groups who wish to force the issue of rights for illegal immigrants are dead wrong. They don’t have rights. Not the right to a home. I am also very tired of the we are going to separate families argument. I really have no sympathy. I didn’t hold a gun to their heads, make them enter my country against its laws and start a family. If they are looking for someone to blame if their family is split, well I have a mirror for them.

Oklahoma is joining the ranks of Arizona, Colorado, and Georgia who have passed similar measures out of frustration with Congress’ failure to act on proper immigration reform. I’m not talking about amnesty. We need something that is going to protect American Citizens first. Hispanic Groups say over 20,000 illegals have fled Tulsa alone in the past few weeks as this Bill prepares to go into effect.

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Well, this is one tough law I will admit. Illegals are fleeing! Never knew we had that many, and it took us practically twisting Governor Henry's arm to get it done, but it's on now. Akmmed wont be slipping through Oklahoma with a Thermo-Nuclear Bomb in a Briefcase. This is NOT about Mexican people, this is about ALL people Illegally in Oklahoma. Git 'er done!

Westboro Baptist Lunatics Lose $11 Million Dollar Lawsuit

Jury Awards Grieving Father Nearly $11 Million in Verdict Against Military Funeral Protesters

A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

Albert Snyder of York, Pa., sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder


The Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder Story

The jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress.

Westboro Baptist Lunatics


Snyder's attorney, Craig Trebilcock, had urged jurors to determine an amount "that says don't do this in Maryland again. Do not bring your circus of hate to Maryland again."

Church members routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags."



A number of states have passed laws regarding funeral protests, and Congress has passed a law prohibiting such protests at federal cemeteries. But the Maryland lawsuit is believed to be the first filed by the family of a fallen serviceman.

The church and three of its leaders _ the Rev. Fred Phelps and his two daughters, Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebecca Phelps-Davis, 46 _ were found liable for invasion of privacy and intent to inflict emotional distress.YEAH!!!!

Fred Phelps The Leader Of The Westboro Baptist Freaks With Of All People 'Al Gore'! And Al Gore Just Won The Nobel Peace Prize. Hmmm


Even the size of the award for compensating damages "far exceeds the net worth of the defendants," according to financial statements filed with the court, U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett noted.

Snyder claimed the protests intruded upon what should have been a private ceremony and sullied his memory of the event.

The church members testified they are following their religious beliefs by spreading the message that soldiers are dying because the nation is too tolerant of homosexuality.

Their attorneys maintained in closing arguments Tuesday that the burial was a public event and that even abhorrent points of view are protected by the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and religion.

Earlier, church members staged a demonstration outside the federal courthouse. Church founder Fred Phelps held a sign reading "God is your enemy," while Shirley Phelps-Roper stood on an American flag and carried a sign that read "God hates fag enablers." Members of the group sang "God Hates America" to the tune of "God Bless America."

Snyder sobbed when he heard the verdict, while members of the church greeted the news with tightlipped smiles.

Here's A Video I Snatched From....Conservative Intelligence Report...Showing What Happens When These Loones Are Caught And Families Have Had Enough :-) God Bless This Family And All The Pro-Victory Folks That Obviously Couldnt Take It Anymore.


http://view.break.com/189664 - Watch more free videos

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This isnt anywhere near the justice they deserve, but it is justice none the less. Maybe if enough folks bankrupt these people they will get the hint that they are seriously disturbed and need psychological help from the obvious brainwashing Fred Phelps has done to his children over the years. Still, that is NO excuse for what these people have been doing and have been able to get away with all this time. Maybe we wont be seeing these idiot's at Funerals for our Brave Fallen Soldiers anymore. And this will probably open up the door for thousands of lawsuits. But Hey, you reap what you sew and these loones got what they deserved. Watch the Video, it's priceless and if you cant stand this group as much as I cant, it will make your day :-)

Also Blogging:

Conservative Intelligence Report