Iraq War Reporter Dexter Filkins On the Worst Mistake Of the Iraq War

Bill Clinton, Had He Done the Right Thing Back Then...

...how would history be different now?

What got me thinking about this question again and ole' Slick Willy was the way former Texas Ranger Ron Washington handled his infidelity the past couple of weeks.  And also how my Governor Mark Dayton reacted to the Adrian Peterson situation with these remarks:

"It is an awful situation. Yes, Mr. Peterson is entitled to due process and should be 'innocent until proven guilty.' However, he is a public figure, and his actions, as described, are a public embarrassment to the Vikings organization and the State of Minnesota,"

Back in 1998, I was adamant that the only proper thing for Bill Clinton to do in light of the whole Monica Lewinsky scandal was for him to resign his office in disgrace.  That was clearly the right thing for him to do.  Yet for reasons that may forever be beyond me Bill wouldn't do it and the Democrats wouldn't make him do it.  It's not like the Democrats wouldn't still hold the Presidency and I believe it's the only reason why GWB even had a shot at beating Al Gore in 2000.

Would 9/11 have happened? I think probably so and the War in Afghanistan would have gone pretty much as it has.

Would the Iraq War have happened?  I think the chances are better than 50/50 that it would have.  A little later than 2003 probably, but I believe Al Gore wanted Saddam gone.

Would Gore have gotten a 2nd term? I'm 98% positive he would have.

Would the financial collapse of 2008 happened?  Pretty much 100% sure nothing would have happened to stop that.  But I believe the nation would have been in better financial shape thanks to no Bush tax cuts for the top 2%.  Yes, I believe the Bush tax cuts were clearly a mistake.

Who wins the 2008 election?  In light of that, a Republican obviously.  I don't even know if we would know Barak Obama's name right now had Bill Clinton resigned.

Would we have gotten Osama at the exact same time we eventually did?  Pretty much.

Who wins in 2012? No idea, but what I'm sure of is we would be in a lot better shape in the "Long War" than we are now.

Why didn't that SOB Bill resign?

"If it's important enough to fight;..."

...It's important enough to win."
Rep. Jack Kingston

I am in total agreement with this statement.  I don't believe President Obama subscribes to it in wars our soldiers are fighting over sea's.  But I believe he subscribes to it 100% at it would pertain to winning against his political opponents here at home.

Obama's Iraq Policy

Disaster by Peter Beinert of The Atlantic

Candidate Obama On Iraq, "I Will Do Stupid Shit!"

Op-ed from the New York Times
In this campaign, there are honest differences over Iraq, and we should discuss them with the thoroughness they deserve. Unlike Senator McCain, I would make it absolutely clear that we seek no presence in Iraq similar to our permanent bases in South Korea, and would redeploy our troops out of Iraq and focus on the broader security challenges that we face. But for far too long, those responsible for the greatest strategic blunder in the recent history of American foreign policy have ignored useful debate in favor of making false charges about flip-flops and surrender.

I thought Barak's foreign policy motto was "Don't Do Stupid Shit". Can we all be honest and admit that Barak's policy in Iraq was some pretty stupid shit. This Nation would have been served far better had we done what McCain said we should do in Iraq back in 2008.

My Congressman Rick Nolan

In his most recent add Rick Nolan starts off by talking about how "so called nation building" is a waste of money.  I guess this is what polls well with all the folks up here in the sticks.  If he had his way we would pull our troops out of Afghanistan as we did in Iraq and were forced to do with all our people from Obama's War in Libya. Were you even aware that there are no American's left in Libya in any capacity.  Yep, not doing any nation building in Libya and giving up on it nearly cold turkey in Iraq has worked out swell.  In Afghanistan I'm sure things will turn out swell as well.  Just remember Syria had Chemical weapons, Pakistan has the ultimate Islamist prize, Nuclear Weapon's.  

He is also all for shrinking our military.  Yep sticking our head in the sand, while the world spins out of control is just the kind of leadership we need more of in Washington. smh

Well Written, I Couldn't Agree More

The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their President.

This was from the comment section of the Washington Post in an article about figuring out Obama's worldview.

I'm Not Happy, So I'm Back

I haven't blogged my thoughts here for the last couple of years for a couple of reasons.

1. I had a stroke in December of 2011 that has negatively effected my intellectual capabilities.  For instance  I don't have the same level of short and long term memory recall as I did before.  My deficits in intellectual capabilities makes blogging thoughtful posts much more difficult than it was before.
(Writing this one took me several hours, yes hours! And I wouldn't describe it as very thoughtful)

2. The country electing Barak Obama for a second term was totally discouraging to me.  How could people be that foolish?  Fool them once shame on him, fool them twice shame on this country.  I was left to just shake my head and pretty much checked out on the serious war on terror issues that this blog mostly focused around.

So why am I back now?  I'm pissed off with Obama's "smart diplomacy" that has blown up in our faces.  This is especially true for things are turning out in Iraq.  What a major fuck up?  Completely conceding our influence there to Iran when we pulled all our troops out was just asking for trouble.  And please don't give me that flimsy excuse that getting the hell out wasn't up to him.  He couldn't get our troops out fast enough to claim how he "responsibly ended the war."  What a crock of shit!  Now thousands and thousands of innocent Iraqi's that shouldn't have had to pay more for our invasion in 2003 than they originally already had to are getting stuck with an even higher bill.  That just plain sucks!!!

If you don't believe what I'm saying I encourage everyone to read:

Behold What Is Possible Without America by The Dignified Rant Blog
(I have pretty much always been in 100% agreement with The Dignified Rant on Iraq Policy)

What We Left Behind by Dexter Filkins The New Yorker

and last but not least my own
9/11 Has America Forgotten? written on 9/11/2010

and

Are Terrorists Wiser Than You? Written back in 2004.  We hadn't forgotten 9/11 in 2004.  Four years later  we as a nation just buried our head in the sand and gave what our soldiers fought so hard for away and for What?