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POPSTrue tests of leadership Continuing the clip: "Senator Obama made a different choice. He not only opposed the new strategy, but actually tried to prevent us from implementing it. He didn't just advocate defeat, he tried to legislate it. When his efforts failed, he continued to predict the failure of our troops. As our soldiers and Marines prepared to move into Baghdad neighborhoods and Anbari villages, Senator Obama predicted that their efforts would make the sectarian violence in Iraq worse, not better. Three weeks after Senator Obama voted to deny funding for our troops in the field, General Ray Odierno launched the first major combat operations of the surge. Senator Obama declared defeat one month later: "My assessment is that the surge has not worked and we will not see a different report eight weeks from now." His assessment was popular at the time. But it couldn't have been more wrong." And more telling... he always chooses the politically expedient answer.
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POPSObama's Idol Status Overseas Many in Washington were scratching their heads while he (McCain) was traipsing through the jungles of Colombia last month. But then came the freeing of hostages held by the FARC Colombian rebels, and McCain looked, well, presidential. And really, that’s the whole point of these “fact-finding” missions – looking good for the cameras. Perhaps these work vacations by politicians are more sophisticated than they first appear. Maybe Americans appreciate the fact that their presidential candidates are traveling beyond the confines of America and seeing the world firsthand. Perhaps, but do not be deceived. These are trips staged to the finest detail, with little left to chance and happenstance. Obama and McCain know this, and they have treated it as such – an extension of their political campaigns. Why do you think the network anchors are along for the ride? It is surely not because of the news quotient that the “surge” is working.
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POPSWhy can't Obama admit the obvious Even USAToday (who thinks the world would be a better and safer place if Saddam was still in charge of Iraq) is baffled by Obama's reluctance to admit the truth.
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POPSBusting the Surge Myth Cont.... The Shiitization of Baghdad was thus a significant cause of falling casualty rates. But it is another war waiting to happen, when the Sunnis come back to find Shiite militiamen in their living rooms.
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POPSThe Democrats' Fairy Tale
And the improvements in Anbar could never have been sustained without aggressive American military efforts — efforts that were more effective in 2007 than they had been in 2006, due in part to the addition of the surge forces. Last year’s success, in Anbar and elsewhere, was made possible by confidence among Iraqis that U.S. troops would stay and help protect them, that the U.S. would not abandon them to their enemies. Because the U.S. sent more troops instead of withdrawing — because, in other words, President Bush won his battles in 2007 with the Democratic Congress — we have been able to turn around the situation in Iraq. And now Iraq’s Parliament has passed a de-Baathification law — one of the so-called benchmarks Congress established for political reconciliation. For much of 2007, Democrats were able to deprecate the military progress and political reconciliation taking place on the ground by harping on the failure of the Iraqi government to pass the benchmark legislation
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POPSMcCain: The Mistake Machine Poor John McCain is a gift that keeps on giving to the Democrats. Mistake after mistake after mistake. I'm beginning to worry about pointing out his mistakes. I'm afraid someone will accuse me of making fun of someone with a "challenge" and it will be true.
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POPSCBS covers up for McCain Since the American media has bought into the myth of the Surge, they can't very well show things like these and expose themselves. Ooops...too late!
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POPSJohn McCain is truly an angry and frustated egomaniac This pretender needs to chill out on one of his wife’s luxurious estates and tend the barbecue. It is very evident that he would turn over our government to the corporate powers who have been running it for the last eight years. Not this time. — Posted by Luke Wright
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POPSMedia "Obamathon" Couric Showcases Obama Over McCain The Media Is In Love With Barack It's pretty obvious that the media has a bizarre fascination with Barack Obama. Some may even say it's a love affair. Watch the video 2:56 http://www.johnmccain.com/ It has been an Obamathon ever since the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee touched down in Afghanistan. At today's press conference in Amman, a throng of reporters recorded his every move. In total, 200 journalists requested seats on “Air Obama” -- 40 of them were accepted. The bill for the trip? About $20,000 each.
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POPSAfghanistan: Obama Sees Problems; McCain Sees A solution The differences are not small ones, and reflect a distinction between the kind of staff-driven, laundry-list mush that sees the immensity of a problem and a leader-driven set of priorities that sees a solution. It is the distinction between Obama's opposition to the Iraq surge and McCain's support for it: not just the courage to make the tough choice, but the clarity to follow the right course. It's also the distinction between winning the war and simply ending it. Thomas Donnelly is the Resident Fellow in Foreign & Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
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POPSObama would still oppose the surge
OK. This clinches it. Obama is utterly incapable of rational leadership. The terrorists were wreaking havoc in Iraq and killing hundreds daily. Now there is relative calm. Iraq is turning around. al Qaeda is out of Iraq. al Qaeda describes the situation as lost and say they can no longer recruit in the region. Iran is no longer having their way with propping up the insurgency. Intelligence tells us we are winning the hearts and minds of the Middle East. We have basically won in Iraq. However, Obama says he would still not support the surge after originally saying prior to the surge that he did not support the surge because it would have the "opposite effect" and increase violence. He is saying now that we should have let the situation in Iraq fester, withdrawn troops, hand the terrorists a victory in Iraq, allow the violence in Iraq to continue and instead concentrate on the few Taliban incapacitated in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan. What a complete fool!
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POPSLanny Davis: "We were wrong" Thank You, Lannie. It is great to see there are still stand-up people on the left. From article: "Maybe another democracy, however imperfect, other than Israel in the Middle East could lead to more moderation, possibly other democracies? Democracies that could serve as bulwarks against al Qaeda-type of terrorist states?" "And then in early 2007 came the Surge, which so many of us in the anti-war left of the Democratic Party predicted would be a failure, throwing good men and women and billions of dollars after futility. We were wrong." "The surge did, in fact, lead to a reduction of violence, confirmed by media on the ground as well as our military leaders."
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POPSMugtada al-Sadr keeps the truce for now.... Cont.... Such tales abound. Sudani said she'd heard of troops bursting into a woman's home and arresting her four sons, as a soldier threw the mother to the ground and put his boot on her head. Iraqi troops are said to have seized gasoline canisters from a Sadr City resident and distributed them to others, claiming they were from the government. Ali Jassim, 30, another resident, said his cousin's phone rang at a checkpoint with a ringtone containing a chant about Sadr. When soldiers heard it, they slapped him, he said. Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army, has suffered a series of setbacks since last spring. It lost control of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, and the southern city of Amara after Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki ordered his forces to retake those areas. Many charge that Maliki is waging a political war against his former allies in time for fall's provincial elections.
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POPSMaliki's Bet Mr. Obama, he is also placing one on Mr. McCain, which is that in the event the Republican is elected, he will place principle and the national interest over politics and petty vindictiveness. For our part we see the emergence of an Iraq making its own choices in these matters rather than having them dictated by the American ambassador or American generals as yet another sign of victory in the Battle of Iraq. The Iraqis want America as their friends whether Mr. Obama or Mr. McCain is president. For all the talk by critics of how the Iraq War supposedly alienated America from the world, here is an administration in Baghdad maneuvering for a friend in the White House.
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POPSText of McCain Editorial rejected by the NY Times This editorial was a written response to Obama's editorial. It was rejected. continuing.. "Perhaps he is unaware that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has recently certified that, as one news article put it, “Iraq has met all but three of 18 original benchmarks set by Congress last year to measure security, political and economic progress.” Even more heartening has been progress that’s not measured by the benchmarks. More than 90,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis who once fought against the government, have signed up as Sons of Iraq to fight against the terrorists. Nor do they measure Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s new-found willingness to crack down on Shiite extremists in Basra and Sadr City—actions that have done much to dispel suspicions of sectarianism."
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POPSIraqi PM: 'Obama is Right' My question is when -- or even whether -- the media will start comparing the facts in the world to John McCain's rhetoric. Not only is Iraq heading in the exact opposite direction of what he's been advocating, but so has the State Dept's. posture toward Iran . John McCain is being proved wrong before our very eyes and no one seems to be pointing this out.
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POPSObama Lays Out Plans for Continued War I am posting this as a perspective. I truly and very unsure of how I feel about Obama. I have seen too many broken campaign promises in my life I have never found an unbroken one that I can think of.
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POPSObama Scrubs website of surge criticism Yes, I'm always supportive of something that has been proven successful too. A little late though. Nice try Obama. After you trounced the efforts, the policy, the military...now that the surge has made significant progress, you want to slap them on the back and join the chorus of "Good job, guy!"
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POPSIn Speech, Obama Calls Iraq a Distraction He's right and he's also right to point out that McCain seems to be running for the position of President of Iraq. For the right, Iraq isn't a pointless sidetrip, but the be-all and end-all of fighting terrorism -- to the detriment of addressing terrorism anywhere else. At this point, the only real reason we're fighting is to preserve George W. Bush's reputation. That's a pretty crappy cause to ask people to die for.
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POPSFacts matter The Iraqis most enthusiastic about Obama’s plan surely are al-Qaeda members, Sadrists, Iranian agents and sectarian killers of every stripe. The prospect of an American president suddenly letting up on them has to be the best cause for hope they’ve had in months. Obama’s withdrawal would immediately embolden every malign actor in Iraq, and increase their sway in Iraqi politics. In his oped, Obama sticks to the badly dated contention that Iraqis “have not reached the political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge.” In fact, roughly 15 of 18 political benchmarks have been met by the Iraqis — progress Obama threatens to reverse.
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