Category: World

Lieberman: Sky Isn’t Falling

Joe Lieberman is one of the few Democrats I actually admire. He doesn’t lower himself to the pathetic partisan hysteria of his fellows:

Senator Lieberman of Connecticut, fresh from a two-day visit to Iraq over the Thanksgiving holiday, said yesterday he was hopeful American forces could begin a “significant” withdrawal by the end of next year or in 2007.

“The country is now in reach of going from Saddam Hussein to self-government and, I’d add, self-protection,” the Democrat said in a conference call with reporters. “That would be a remarkable transformation.” …

Mr. Lieberman has visited Iraq four times in 17 months. He said there are signs life is returning to normal, including a profusion of cell phones and satellite TV dishes on rooftops.

“About two-thirds of the country is in really pretty good shape,” he said, noting most attacks are in the so-called “Sunni Triangle” region. “Overall, I came back encouraged.”

Iraq Miscellania

Instapundit links to a revealing article about the troops’ view of the war:

Like many soldiers and marines returning from Iraq, Mayer looks at the bleak portrayal of the war at home with perplexity – if not annoyance. It is a perception gap that has put the military and media at odds, as troops complain that the media care only about death tolls, while the media counter that their job is to look at the broader picture, not through the soda straw of troops’ individual experiences.

More discussion here.

LGF points to an article debunking the “massive civillian casualties” myth.

In April 2004 I took a survey of left-wing casualty numbers for the invasion and first year of occupation of Iraq. They ranged from 10 to 20 thousand civillians killed. Human Rights Watch had estimated that Saddam Hussein killed at least 30,000 of his citizens every year. So in the war and the first year of occupation, the United States saved the lives of at least 10,000 Iraqis who would have died under the genocidical tyrant who now stands in a courtroom whining about stationary.

Yeowch!

Grant Crowell takes Prancing Bullshit, aka infamous non-Native American, plagiarist and art thief Ward Churchill, out behind the virtual woodshed:

Mr. Ward Leroy Churchill, show some integrity and keep the one simple promise which you’ve based your entire livelihood on — agree to a debate. You may not be an Indian, but try to be a man. Take the coward route and sue me, and I’ll give you a lesson on what the First Amendment is really about.

Hat tip: LGF.

Urban Legends about the Iraq War

What you think you know about President Bush and his foreign policy is wrong.

Via several sites comes a link to a comprehensive debunking of urban legends about the Iraq war.

Urban Legend: Helping democracy take root in Iraq was a postwar rationalization by the Bush administration; it was an argument that was not made prior to going to war. In the words of a November 13, 2003 New York Times editorial, “The White House recently began shifting its case for the Iraq war from the embarrassing unconventional weapons issue to the lofty vision of creating an exemplary democracy in Iraq.”

Reality: The President argued the importance of democracy taking root in Iraq before the war began. A February 27, 2003 New York Times editorial shatters the very myth the paper was perpetrating just nine months later: “President Bush sketched an expansive vision last night [in an American Enterprise Institute speech] of what he expects to accomplish by a war in Iraq. Instead of focusing on eliminating weapons of mass destruction, or reducing the threat of terror to the United States, Mr. Bush talked about establishing a ‘free and peaceful Iraq’ that would serve as a ‘dramatic and inspiring example’ to the entire Arab and Muslim world, provide a stabilizing influence in the Middle East, and even help end the Arab-Israeli conflict. The idea of turning Iraq into a model democracy in the Arab world is one some members of the administration have been discussing for a long time.” President Bush’s 2002 State of the Union made the same case….