I appreciated that he did not seem to be diving into any “I told you so” kind of talk.
The speech seemed mostly consisting of patriotic rhetoric.
So… Did America win the war in Iraq?
Saddam Hussein was removed from power.
Iraqi WMDs are either gone or in Syria, but they don’t have them now.
Iraq has a government. I am not sure that the U.S. can do anything more militarily to ensure that. I agree with the President that this is ultimately up to the Iraqi people and their natural leadership.
Perhaps we should have pulled out a bit more slowly and it certainly should have been done with much less “we’re losing, it was wrong, so let’s leave” kind of rhetoric (as in what happened in the last presidential campaign).
I think if John McCain would have been elected, the timing of our withdrawal would have been historically similar. That is, it would have only been a few years longer before we pulled out of Iraq. That may be a long time in terms of U.S. Presidential Elections, but it would not have been that long in terms of history.
In other words, President Obama’s election has very little to do in real history with the draw down in Iraq.
I give all of the credit to President Bush and the troops. The results in Iraq would have been disastrous if John Kerry had won in 2004 and actually pulled us out then. (I doubt he would have actually pulled us out.)
I am glad that Obama didn’t pull out as fast as he seemed to think we should during the campaign.
Summary: The U.S. and its coalition of friends has won the war in Iraq as far as achieving the major objectives is concerned. We are pulling out pre-maturely, but only barely pre-maturely (by perhaps 2-3 years).
I’m not an expert on military but there are my thoughts. For free.
“National Guard soldiers, who have policing powers, used tear gas to repel a small group of opposition candidates near the legislature on a busy downtown street, TV images showed, after they appeared to clash with parliament workers.
“‘We were walking toward the assembly. We were going to read a document, and without warning the National Guard started firing tear gas,’ candidate Stalin Gonzalez told opposition TV station Globovision. The parliament issued a statement accusing the candidates of trying to force their way into the building.” [Read More]
A man get’s caught stealing alcohol from his delivery truck and gets fired. Claiming to be a victim of racism (there is apparently not any proof of this) he goes on a shooting rampage and kills 8 people and then himself.
Authorities said Thornton, 34, resigned under pressure Tuesday after he was accused of stealing alcoholic beverages while on his driving route for Hartford Distributors.
As he left that meeting, escorted by two people, Thornton said he wanted a drink of water and went into the kitchen area, Davis said. Police believe he had brought two 9mm handguns to the building in a lunchbox. In the kitchen, he pulled out the guns and shot his two escorts.
Thornton then “went through the whole building in a very short amount of time” as workers cowered under desks and in “nooks and crannies” and 9-1-1 calls poured in, Davis said. [Read More]
I do not own a gun. I am not a “gun person.” I still can’t help but think, though, that this story might have been very different if we lived in a culture that respected and prepared for self defense. What if many of the people in the building had been trained gun carriers? Maybe he would have been shot quickly and the tragedy would be less severe.
Even one person shot and killed by this man would be too many but it would be better than 8, and it would give would-be shooters something to think about if Americans were known to carry and know how to use guns!
Omar Thornton appears to have thrown away his life in a shameful and cowardly manner. I can already hear the cries to outlaw or restrict gun ownership that are going to arise anew because of this tragedy. Those cries will continue to ignore the fact that the problem is the sinful nature of the individual – not guns.
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