[Ephejvll]

Perhaps the most systemic problem with the report is it didn't tell us how to win; it answered how to get out. The commissioners answered the wrong question, but it was the one they wanted to answer. Leaving isn't a problem.

[usadatronourl]

"In all my time in Washington I've never seen such smugness, arrogance, or such insufferable moral superiority. Self-congratulatory. Full of itself. Horrible"

OKAAAAY.......this dude must've had his hands over his eyes, his ears stuffed with cotton, noseplugs in, and suffering from the worst case of cranialrectal impaction I've seen in YEARS if the Baker commission report was the smuggest thing he's seen in Washington....

[sniskelsowwef]

Who could that be?

[pouslytut]

Originally posted by Dauphin
Maybe we need a poll......

[FelixQY]

The report mirrors the sentiment of the American public, so evidently Bill Bennett considers us smug, arrogant and insufferably morally superior. Furthermore most of us haven't been ouitside of the Green Zone. Maybe what Bill Bennett wants for America is something akin to the government of Starship Troopers.

[tramadoldiscountes]

From the thread title, I thought this was going to be about Ned admitting to his own serious flaws.

[18holesin]

Originally posted by loinburger

" Nuke it from orbit!" HEY! That's illegal! You'll get in trouble with the U.N.!

[megatrendsZ]

Holy crap, you mean this is the book of virtues guy? Geez, I thought I recognized the name, but said "nah, it couldn't be..."

[zoolissentesy]

Originally posted by MRT144
asher, agathon, krazyhorse? You forgot your mate Molly.

[FuXA8nQM]

Israel's got nothing to do with this. They don't get a vote.

[Avoireeideree]

The Right is eating it's own...

[FjFHQLJQ]

Oh, come now. The charge of the Light Brigade was a terrible tactical decision that got hundreds of good men killed. The war in Iraq is a terrible strategic decision that's gotten thousands of good men killed not including Iraqi civilians. Now get some perspective and stop demeaning Lord Cardigan with your melodrama!

EDIT: Quick research on Wikipedia reveals that, in addition, the LB charged into that valley based on misunderstood orders; their CO was ordering them to charge a different target which was visible to him but not to them. Whereas the Iraq war was executed exactly as planned, and went wrong because it was planned by an idiot and his yes-man toadies.

[ycMC0PLg]

OT: Elok - who's the guy in your avatar? It reminds me of Will9's old one.

[Zdmlscid]

Z, the only difference between the left and the right on the Iraq report is that the left thinks we have already been defeated while the right thinks victory is still possible. In both cases, both sides agree that the Report calls for surrender.

[11Pecepebra]

Originally posted by Ned
Z, the only difference between the left and the right on the Iraq report is that the left thinks we have already been defeated while the right thinks victory is still possible. In both cases, both sides agree that the Report calls for surrender. Wrong.

Both sides realize that the report acknowledges:

1) Military victory, on the terms that the Bush administration has been defining it, is now impossible; and
2) in the face of that, it's time to think about an exit strategy.

The left applauds these findings, to some extent, because they are a long-overdue recognition of reality. The right has gone ballistic over these findings because it means they are wrong, and have been wrong for years -- and the blood of thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis are on their hands.

And everyone, left center and right, condemns the report for being too chicksh!t to offer clear steps toward its goal.

[c2siOlIk]

And then in that case, sometimes surrender can be good. Better to live to fight again another day than be exterminated .

[avaiftBoara]

We also had ~47,000 more soldiers killed. Then again, America was a lot tougher back then...

[Plaumpholavup]

Originally posted by Cort Haus


You forgot your mate Molly.

[angeldimmon]

Add the Washington Post to the increasingly long list of critics of the ISG report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...120900581.html

[GillTeepbew]

Using your numbers, there's still a 376% difference in the number killed in Korea per deployed soldier vs the number killed in Iraq per deployed soldier. And a 71% difference in total casualties per deployed soldier.

edit: To put that in perspective, we would now have over 14,000 dead and around 28,500 wounded in Iraq at Korean War casualty/deployed soldier rates.