Amb. Joe Wilson is commenting at Firedoglake.com today!!

[ralps]

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/12/04/no-easy-calls-on-iraq/
No Easy Calls On Iraq


Amb. Joseph Wilson has graciously agreed to join in on a discussion here today regarding the mess that is Iraq, diplomacy, regional difficulties, the potential for American soliders having to fight their way out if and when we finally do leave Iraq and a whole host of other issues surrounding the chaotic failure in which the Bush Administration has mired us. (My words, not Joe's — I'll let him characterize this on his own in the comments.)
snip
:bounce: :hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo: :applause: :patriot:

[robertpaulsen]

1. Yep, it's a no-win situation.

Just like Albert Brooks relationship in Modern Romance. Anyone see that movie?

[pacalo]

11. One of my favorite Albert Brooks movies.

:hi:

[robertpaulsen]

12. Hey! Good to meet a fellow fan!

"You don't know what a no-win situation is? Vietnam? Us?"

[pacalo]

15. My favorite Albert Brooks movie, though, is "Lost in America".

:hi:

[rodeodance]

2. k

[rodeodance]

3. k

[rodeodance]

4. k

[ralps]

5. Thanks you all for the Recommendations!! Here's one of Amb. Wilson's

comments
Suzanne @ 15

Ambassador Wilson, thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to meet with us. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Iraq.

Do you see any way out?

Amb. Wilson writes
It is tough but I think that we should reshape the debate domestically from the terms currently in use (stay the course, cut and run; strategic redeployment, timetables, and withdrawal) to one in which we consider what it is we are asking our troops to do at this stage of the occupation and whether what they are doing is in our strategic of operational interest. If not they shouldn’t be doing it. The military talks of deployments in terms of troop to task ratios and force protection requirements. We should too.
In short, we should ask the generals to justify the national security requirement of every task US troops are undertaking and if the case cannot be made they shouldn’t be doing it. For example, a couple of soldiers were killed a few months ago, their bodies were mutilated and booby trapped. Jon Kyl argued that we should stay in Iraq to honor their sacrifice. I asked what were they doing that brought them into harm’s way. they were guarding a bridge. Isn’t it legitimate to ask whether it is appropriate for American troops to be guarding bridges this late in the occupation.
So, we should not put Americans unneccessarily in harm’s way, we should not use American firepower to unneccessarily kill Iraqis, we should call on the President to actually take the advice his military commanders have been giving him that he needs to find a political solution and we should reinvigorate the middle east peace process from which we have been awol for six years. But make no mistake about it, it is a tough situation and will require a lot of what the president calls hard work.
:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :patriot:

[calimary]

6. Interesting read. Wilson is a very gracious, well-spoken, diplomatic,

intelligent man.

A link in there contains a passage I found most revealing (and well worth our remembering):

To Middle East observers, Bush can no longer speak for the United States as he did before because of the domestic pressure for a change of course in Iraq, said Nathan Brown, a specialist on Arab politics at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"He can talk all he wants about 'staying until the job is done,' but these leaders can read about the American political scene and see that he may not be able to deliver that," Brown said.


Comes from an LA Times article called "Mideast allies near a state of panic."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usmideast3dec03,1,5388106.story?coll=la-

[ralps]

7. Thanks for the link calimary!!

:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo: :patriot:

[calimary]

13. Delighted. Y'know... I think we have indeed reached critical mass.

It's all coming down. All the king's horses and all the king's men can't help unfuck what george has fucked up. Now the entire world knows what a waste of flesh he is. It's no longer just his classmates at Yale or Harvard business school or Andover. It's no longer the people in the back office who whispered about who that guy was who came in late and left early. It's no longer the underlings in the Air National Guard offices who wondered who this prick was who only showed up on occasion, and only then to brag about how much he drank the night before. It's no longer the gray eminences of the business world who got THAT phone call - AGAIN - to step up and help bail out their buddy's miscreant boy. No longer.

It's the WHOLE FRICKIN' WORLD!!!

[NMDemDist2]

8. how come most of Joe Wilson's replies are just red astericks? n/t

[ralps]

9. I can see his posts! Check out post #10 in this thread & let me know what

you see. - http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/12/04/no-easy-calls-on-iraq/

:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo:

[NMDemDist2]

10. here's what I see (but the asteric is red)

Joe Wilson says:
December 4th, 2006 at 11:09 am *

[Boo Boo]

14. His answer to a question about Pres candidates

On the issues that are key to me (foreign policy, intelligence, military) there is nobody better than Chuck Hagel. Too bad he is a republican

As to Dems, the only one I would not lift a finger for is Evan Bayh. When asked about our case in an interview with Salon, Bayh said he was agnostic about the Wilsons. Enough said.

Bayh... Fooey!