Who, Me? Worry!

[JerseyGuy]

Give the Chimperor credit. When he's wrong, he's aggressively wrong, and he never backs down, never admits defeat, never changes his mind or flip-flops in the face of overwhelming evidence of his own bubble-headed incompetence.

In other words, he's four years old. Four f*** years old.


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Wednesday said he thinks the United States needs to increase the permanent size of the Army and the Marines.

"We have an obligation to ensure our military is capable of sustaining this war over the long haul, and performing the many tasks that we ask of them," Bush told a news conference in Washington.

"I'm inclined to believe that we need to increase the permanent size of both the United States Army and the United States Marines," he said.

He said he asked Secretary of Defense Robert Gates "to determine how such an increase could take place and report back to me as soon as possible."

Bush said he has not yet decided whether to send more troops to Iraq, and that he was listening to commanders, to people in and out of government, and to members of the Baker-Hamilton Commission "about coming up with a strategy that helps achieve our objective."

He said he was considering all options.

"I believe that we're going to win" in Iraq, he said.

Bush told The Washington Post in Wednesday's editions that "I think an interesting construct that Gen. [Peter] Pace uses is, 'We're not winning, we're not losing,' " a reference to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

At the news conference, he said, "My comments [in the Post] reflected the fact that we're not succeeding nearly as fast as I wanted, when I said it at the time, and that the conditions are tough in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad. And so we're conducting a review to make sure that our strategy helps us achieve that, which I'm pretty confident we can do."

Bush said the most painful aspect of his presidency "has been knowing that good men and women have died in combat. I read about it every night."

But, he added, "the sacrifice has been worth it. We will accomplish our objective. We've got to adjust tactics to do so, insist the Iraqis take more responsibility."

Bush said that he believes he made the right decision in removing Saddam Hussein from power. "I also know it's the right decision for the American people to stay engaged," he said.

Gates meets with generals in Baghdad
Bush's remarks came as Gates arrived Wednesday in Baghdad on an unannounced visit to meet with military leaders and other officials.

Bush has said he will reveal a new strategy for Iraq next month after considering the report of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group and consulting with Pentagon officials and others.

Gates met Wednesday with Gens. John Abizaid, top U.S. commander in the Middle East, and George Casey, the top general in Iraq.

"We discussed the obvious things," Gates told reporters after meeting with the generals, according to The Associated Press. "We discussed the possibility of a surge and the potential for what it might accomplish."

The defense chief was scheduled to meet Thursday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

As he headed for Iraq, accompanied by Pace, Gates said the trip's purpose was to "go out, listen to the commanders, talk to the Iraqis and see what I can learn. ... I expect to learn a lot."

The new defense secretary had said he intended to travel to Iraq soon after taking office. He was sworn in Monday to succeed Donald Rumsfeld. (Watch what are Gates' chief challenges in Iraq )

At least 18 killed in bombings, shooting
Gates' trip came as a drive-by shooting and explosions from two separate car bombs Wednesday killed at least 18 and wounded more than 40 in Baghdad, according to an Iraqi Interior Ministry official.

At least 11 people were killed and 30 were wounded when a man driving near a checkpoint manned by Iraqi national police commandos in Baghdad's eastern Jadriyah district detonated his explosives.

The official said the attack, which happened near Baghdad University, killed police commandos, civilians and university students who had come to class early to avoid the frequent roadblocks.

The blast shook buildings and windows for miles, the official added. (Watch how insurgent and sectarian attacks have become a staple of Iraqi civilian life )

In a separate attack later, an explosives-rigged car parked on a northern Baghdad street detonated, killing four civilians and wounding seven more, the official said.

Gunmen in a car shot dead the assistant dean of Baghdad University's law school and two companions as they were driving in northern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said.

In western Baghdad, two civilians were wounded when a car bomb exploded near a courthouse. An official said two more civilians were wounded in a similar attack in southern Baghdad.

Three other explosions took place around the capital Wednesday morning, but there weren't any casualties, the ministry official said.

U.S. says al Qaeda leader captured
The U.S. military on Wednesday said American-led coalition forces captured a senior al Qaeda in Iraq leader last week in the northern city of Mosul.

Five others described as "suspected terrorists" were arrested in Thursday's operation.

The leader wasn't identified, but the U.S. military said he is implicated in insurgent activities in Mosul and the Karkh region of Baghdad last year when he was a "military emir."

"Just prior to his capture, he was attempting to organize what is left" of al Qaeda in Iraq in the Mosul region, the military said. (Full story)

Other developments

U.S. Central Command announced that Abizaid has officially put in his retirement papers as top U.S. Mideast commander and is expected to leave his post in mid-March. Abizaid, who was supposed to retire last spring, agreed to extend his tour at the request of Bush and Rumsfeld. Central Command is in charge of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.


U.S. troops on Wednesday handed over security control to Iraqi troops and police in the key southern Shiite province of Najaf -- the third of the 18 Iraqi provinces to assume such responsibilities. The provincial capital of Najaf, one of the holiest cities in the Muslim world, is a major pilgrimage site for Shiites across the globe. U.S. troops will remain in the province but will be involved in operations only when authorities call upon them, the military said. Americans also will continue to act against al Qaeda in Iraq.


A Pentagon report said Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia has replaced al Qaeda in Iraq as "the most dangerous accelerant" of the sectarian violence plaguing Iraq for nearly a year. Attacks by Iraqi insurgents and sectarian militias jumped 22 percent from mid-August to mid-November, and Iraqi civilians suffered the bulk of casualties, according to the quarterly report released Monday. (Full story)


Thirteen people convicted of killings, rapes and burning of bodies were hanged Tuesday, the Iraqi prime minister's office said. The death sentences were carried out after an "investigation was completed, and their confessions taken, according to judicial procedures," the office said in a statement.

[BadDog]

In other words, he's four years old. Four f*** years old.

A four year old who like blowing up frogs -- I think that makes him at least a sociopath, if not a pyschopath...

Remember, neurotics build castles in the sky -- pyschotics live in 'em...

[Bubba]

Remember, neurotics build castles in the sky -- pyschotics live in 'em...

Psychologists clean them.

[BadDog]

Remember, neurotics build castles in the sky -- pyschotics live in 'em...

Psychologists clean them.

LOL -- and therapists use them as a gym? :)

[Dr. NO]

That is about the most chopped up piss poor report I have ever read. WTF was the reporter trying to say?

We do need a larger military, and since Jimmy Carter we have cut back beyond realistic leavels. Whether we use troops in Iraq or elsewhere, we are spread too thin and need more. We cut back on Ground forces for Technology. Duh, since WW II we have known it is the Ground forces that finish a war, and no war can be won without them. You cannot fight a CLEAN war. Bomb em, kill em and send in the troops to corral them and end it.

that article sucked.

[powbmps]

I'm glad he thinks "the sacrifice has been worth it".

[DMC_Freeride]

We do need a larger military, and since Jimmy Carter we have cut back beyond realistic leavels. .

I'm sorry - I think it was your boy Dick Cheney that began cutting our military back...

"We were victorious in the Cold War, and in the aftermath of that, we did in fact significantly reduce the overall size of the U.S. military," Cheney said. "But I think we've gone too far with it. I think we've shrunk the force now at the same time we've been adding commitments, and so we're stretched pretty thin."
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITIC ... index.html

You cannot fight a CLEAN war. Bomb em, kill em and send in the troops to corral them and end it.

Wow you sound just like another evil guy...
To kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it
Osama bin Laden - February 28, 1998

[Dr. NO]

We do need a larger military, and since Jimmy Carter we have cut back beyond realistic leavels. .

I'm sorry - I think it was your boy Dick Cheney that began cutting our military back...

"We were victorious in the Cold War, and in the aftermath of that, we did in fact significantly reduce the overall size of the U.S. military," Cheney said. "But I think we've gone too far with it. I think we've shrunk the force now at the same time we've been adding commitments, and so we're stretched pretty thin."
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITIC ... index.html

You cannot fight a CLEAN war. Bomb em, kill em and send in the troops to corral them and end it.

Wow you sound just like another evil guy...
To kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it
Osama bin Laden - February 28, 1998

Jimmy Carter reduced the military after Vietnam. He reduced the size of the Navy fleet by a few Carrier Groups and canceled production on the B1 and other aircraft during his term in office. Regan rebuilt the Navy and Air Force, but still not up to previous levels, and Admins have been cutting back ever since, including Butt Head, er Bubba and this dim witt.

As for my comment on War, it is not directed at a specific place or time. If we go to war, you must fight the war to win, not to be nice to the enemy or his people. You bomb them so they cannot fight back agressively, send in troops to finish the job so they can no longer fight back. Not nice but realistic.

[JerseyGuy]

We do need a larger military, and since Jimmy Carter we have cut back beyond realistic leavels. .

I'm sorry - I think it was your boy Dick Cheney that began cutting our military back...

"We were victorious in the Cold War, and in the aftermath of that, we did in fact significantly reduce the overall size of the U.S. military," Cheney said. "But I think we've gone too far with it. I think we've shrunk the force now at the same time we've been adding commitments, and so we're stretched pretty thin."
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITIC ... index.html

You cannot fight a CLEAN war. Bomb em, kill em and send in the troops to corral them and end it.

Wow you sound just like another evil guy...
To kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it
Osama bin Laden - February 28, 1998

Jimmy Carter reduced the military after Vietnam. He reduced the size of the Navy fleet by a few Carrier Groups and canceled production on the B1 and other aircraft during his term in office. Regan rebuilt the Navy and Air Force, but still not up to previous levels, and Admins have been cutting back ever since, including Butt Head, er Bubba and this dim witt.

As for my comment on War, it is not directed at a specific place or time. If we go to war, you must fight the war to win, not to be nice to the enemy or his people. You bomb them so they cannot fight back agressively, send in troops to finish the job so they can no longer fight back. Not nice but realistic.

I KNEW it! This whole mess is Jimmy Carter's fault!

OK, let's pursue your "realistic" angle: WHO, exactly, is the "enemy" and "his people"? WHO do we bomb first and then "send in troops to finish the job"? Or is your "comment on War" so non-place- and time-specific as to be practically useless?

The fate of the planet hinges upon your answer...

[BigKahuna13]

As for my comment on War, it is not directed at a specific place or time. If we go to war, you must fight the war to win, not to be nice to the enemy or his people. You bomb them so they cannot fight back agressively, send in troops to finish the job so they can no longer fight back. Not nice but realistic.

That's sounds almost like the Powell Doctrine. Something the a*hole Rumsfeld tossed in the dustbin in his mania to do Iraq on the cheap.

Okay. Want to increase the size of the military? Add a couple hundred thousand more troops? Where's the money coming from? According to the Army Chief of Staff each 10,000 soldiers costs taxpayers 1.2 billion dollars a year. Where's the money coming from?

[XtremeJibber2001]

OK, let's pursue your "realistic" angle: WHO, exactly, is the "enemy" and "his people"? WHO do we bomb first and then "send in troops to finish the job"? Or is your "comment on War" so non-place- and time-specific as to be practically useless?

The fate of the planet hinges upon your answer...

Radical Islamic Muslims.

Bomb Iran, Iraq, "Palestine", Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia

[BadDog]

But the 2nd biggest terrorist attack on American soil was in Oklahoma City -- should we then also bomb Kansas, which harbored those enemies of the state?

[Bubba]

But the 2nd biggest terrorist attack on American soil was in Oklahoma City -- should we then also bomb Kansas, which harbored those enemies of the state?

Would anybody notice if we did?

[BadDog]

But the 2nd biggest terrorist attack on American soil was in Oklahoma City -- should we then also bomb Kansas, which harbored those enemies of the state?

Would anybody notice if we did?

No -- but it would give the cloned dinosaurs a nice place to frolic!

[JerseyGuy]

OK, let's pursue your "realistic" angle: WHO, exactly, is the "enemy" and "his people"? WHO do we bomb first and then "send in troops to finish the job"? Or is your "comment on War" so non-place- and time-specific as to be practically useless?

The fate of the planet hinges upon your answer...

Radical Islamic Muslims.

Bomb Iran, Iraq, "Palestine", Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia

Please tell me this is one of your patented "I didn't really mean it, I was only joking, of course I was only exaggerating for effect" comments that you retreat from seven or eight posts later...

No, seriously. Are you kidding?