A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018
New York Magazine hyperventilates:
Is Trump really unaware of “Mission Accomplished”s history and implications? Or is he just demonstrating that no matter what ahistorical thing he says, no matter how ignorant he demonstrates himself to be, no matter how much he contradicts himself, he’ll still be labeled presidential for ordering an airstrike, while retaining an approval rating in the high 30s? It’s probably the first one, but there’s really no way of knowing.You forgot the third option: Trump is completely aware of how Bush was punched around for using that phrase in a celebration of a specific mission that in fact was accomplished, and he would like the naysayers to come after him the way they came after Bush, and when they do, he'll show us all how to handle that kind of anti-military negativity.
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102 comments:
Yep
As far as I can tell, Syria could disappear tomorrow and it wouldn't make jack squat difference in my life.
But if everyone wants to do a little victory dance, that's OK with me.
The problem is you have a highly influential group of peeps who love all these wars, and constantly criticize Trump if he's "isolationist". OTOH, if he stays out, he wins zero votes and no one praises him. There's an automatic reward for EVERY POTUS to take military action and get "involved" - no matter how stupid.
I can't believe they fell for the oldest trick in the book
"Wronge"?
Anyway, he probably did it on purpose, just to yank their (collective) chain. It seems like the sort of thing he'd do.
The ongoing hysteria of the establishment media class is a wonder to see.
Trump is just smarter than they are.
He's yanking their chain. Successfully at that.
Tommy Duncan said...
He's yanking their chain. Successfully at that.
Mission Accomplished.
A bit more on the Cohen office raid:
The intelligence mistake of Michael Cohen traveling to Prague, is a direct-line thread connecting the FBI/DOJ FISA(702)(17) searches to Fusion-GPS and the Steele dossier. As such there would be a very strong motive for similarly aligned political entities within the U.S. intelligence apparatus to take strong action to cloud the connection. In short they need to lower the risk.
This week we also discovered the origin of the 2016 FBI Counterintelligence Operation against candidate Trump began as an outcome of a CIA referral connected to Australia and the U.K. In essence, fellow ideologues within GCHQ (U.K), and their Australian counterparts, worked collaboratively with the U.S. intelligence apparatus to oppose Donald Trump; and create a false narrative that would undermine the 2016 presidential election.
The new story is that Cohen really did go to Prague. Cross our hearts.
I wonder if they got his passport so they could fake a entry stamp?
He could have tossed in: "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice."
Yes, Option 3. NY Magazine is completely unaware that Trump is completely aware of the history of the phrase.
Trump is “othering” the Times, the Post, CNN, NBC, and the rest. And they are cooperating wonderfully.
There is no way he didn't know what he was saying. How stupid is the WaPo. (Rhetorical question)
Oops. The NYMag. Either way.
Every day I love Trump just a little more.
The true test will come after this November. Congress will probably be overtaken by the Democrats (Historically this happens all the time and it seems polls are showing a blue wave, so we should expect it) and then we will see if he compromises with them and passes a bunch of idiotic legislation, or if he starts using his veto power.
This also serves to demonstrate how much better of a president Trump is than Bush was.
In addition to Althouse's "dead on balls accurate" analysis, I'd add the following:
Did New York Magazine intend to demean our "more enlightened" European counterparts, UK and France (the latter notably absent from the last coalition of the willing)?
Trump will never attempt nation-building in Syria. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the strategy is to trap Iran and Russia in that protracted role.
He yanked their chain and they didn't even know they fell over.
Trump is for sure a lot smarter than a bunch of liberals in the media. And I'm still not tired of the winning.
I remember how George W. Bush was excoriated for flying to an aircraft carrier 200 miles off the coast, and proclaiming "Mission Accomplished". When I first heard Trump proclaim the same, I thought he might have stepped in it.
Nah.....he's just tweaking noses! Perhaps, it was a shout-out to Bush as well.
There's also speculation that Trump broke out the McCabe IG report to step all over the release of Comey's book. I'm kinda believing that was planned as well.
When your goal isn't to overthrow the government or take over the country, and those remaining in power will do their best to show they weren't hurt by your actions, how can you let the world know you achieved all your objectives?
You tell them your mission was accomplished.
I'll take Option 3 for $1000, Alex.
AA: You forgot the third option.
"forgot" ha ha
Trolling is the technical term. Trump does it so well.
And it's a back handed slap at GWB. Just like the pardon of Libby was. Trump's tweets usually accomplish multiple actions.
You forgot the third option: Trump is completely aware of how Bush was punched around for using that phrase in a celebration of a specific mission that in fact was accomplished, and he would like the naysayers to come after him the way they came after Bush, and when they do, he'll show us all how to handle that kind of anti-military negativity.
What does this mean... in English? It sounds very convoluted and factually challenged.
I believe TTR believes his comment is serious. I also believe his Leftist Collectivist friends cannot see the point. That is why Trump is effective.
But the Leftist Collectivists Will argue there is no effectiveness too.
The whole tweet so dumb-ass, why focus on one phrase?
Wow. Birkel at 5:06
"But the Leftist Collectivists Will argue there is no effectiveness too."
Followed by readering at 5:06.
"The whole tweet so dumb-ass, why focus on one phrase?"
Birkel is a genius.
I knew what Trump was doing the second I read of his tweet. I'm flummoxed that the media and Libs are really this susceptible to his trolling after 2 years. It doesn't take a strategic mind to recognize it, only common sense and the experience.
The Mission Accomplished banner was for the crew of the USS Lincoln.
After their extended tour fighting the Gulf War, Bush landed a plane on the carrier and indeed celebrated their mission being accomplished. He also used the opportunity to make the announcement that major combat operations in Iraq were completed.
That's all it was.
You fucking assholes on the left took it completely out of context because that's what you do.
It sounds very convoluted and factually challenged.
Everything sounds factually challenged to you, Ritmo.
Maybe you should take it as a clue.
Birkel is the most incisive Cliff Clavin wanna-be of of the fascist-authoritarian bootlickers.
There is a pedigree for your admiration of Twitler/President Bonespurs. When you say "effective" you mean that he made the trains run on time.
The similarities between Il Duce and Il Douchey extend far beyond that smug, arrogant underbite.
Cliff Birkel Clavin looks up to Twitler Bonespurs' vanity as an outlet for how little he has to feel proud about in himself. That esteem has to be channeled somewhere, after all. Adolf Don Dotard Drumpfy Twitler Bonespurs will take Cliff Birkel Clavin's misplaced esteem.
It's a closed cycle. A man with more pride than he can feel for himself directs it instead onto a man with no sense of dignity or pride in the first place. It's weird but it works for fascists like Dotard and Birkel.
The mission was most assuredly accomplished at a very high degree of competence.
Where people generally go wrong is when they conflate the discussion regarding the strategic goals with highest level of strategy being employed to achieve our strategic ends and/or specific actions undertaken.
This makes for some serious conversational disconnects.
In this case, the desired strategic outcome is obviously stopping Assad from using chemical weapons in the future.
Our strategic goals are not reming him from power or elevating a specific group within the nation. Its not even to drive the Russians out since that would be rude given obama gave syria to Putin.
Nope, just trying to get Assad to stop using CW.
The strategy being employed to achieve that is one of increasingly damaging strikes on increasing numbers of strategic nodes within Syria.
In support of that strategy, this mission was conceived to achieve some specific destructive results with few to no military casualties and minimal civilian casualties.
Clearly the specific mission was accomplished and successful.
Now, whether or not the strategic goals are appropriate, or whether the strategy employed to achieve the goals is correct or whether or not this particular mission is an effective causal action in support of the strategy, are all open for debate.
That is the nature of strategy and strategy execution. Its all just an hypothesis. Not a theory, just an hypothesis as we cannot repeatedly test our ideas with same initial conditions over and over again.
Nope. Just our best guess that we have chosen the right goals, that we have chosen the right strategy to achieve those goals AND that we are putting in place the correct actions to further that strategy.
the announcement that major combat operations in Iraq were completed.
That's all it was.
You fucking assholes on the left took it completely out of context because that's what you do.
LOL!
So the context was... "Mission accomplished - EXCEPT for all the continuing missions and lives lost over the 15 ensuing years due to the Bush administration's inability to anticipate the aftermath of its adventure."
ROFLMAO. You piss on the graves of all the service members who died after Bush's premature er, declaration.
Yep. But you feel greater obligation to defend the semantics of Bush's small achievements than to the country he put into trillions more debt and military he misused so horribly and those who gave their lives so that his unplanned legacy could live. Wonderful!
I knew you assholes would come out of the woodwork. After Trump spent a campaign going after Jeb Bush and his brother's supposed disasters, you little fascists start defending it all over again. What a waste. You should go prove your Americanness by driving over a roadside bomb in Mesopotamia. Just don't send the country the bill. What a waste.
The mission was most assuredly accomplished at a very high degree of competence.
Where people generally go wrong is when they conflate the discussion regarding the strategic goals with highest level of strategy being employed to achieve our strategic ends and/or specific actions undertaken.
This is as dumb as saying that the hapless kitten was successful in getting stuck in the tree so let's pretend that we didn't tie up substantial fire station resources by having to call the crew out there and extricate him. Poor planning is apparently part of Bush's "accomplishment." NASA got the rocket up there but forgot how to land the astronauts safely and return them to earth. Oh well! Republican governance. If these twats had been running the country when it came time to save America from the fascism their depression ushered in across Europe, the Republicans would have half-assed it, put Hitler on the run, left him in power to direct a 20-year long Nazi regime from in hiding, while Hirohito kept kamikazeeing Honolulu. Republicons just suck at everything - including coming up with excuses for their seriously horrendous incompetence.
Jim at 5:20 is precisely correct.
TTR is showing his ignorant ass, as usual.
Some people think an effective mission includes ending it successfully rather than extending it by 15 more years and trillions more and thousands service members lost. But to propose that would be like telling a Republicon that effective toilet training means proper use of toilet paper and making sure that everything ends up inside the toilet. Republicons HATE being told what to do. It's their bottom they'll defecate anywhere in the bathroom that they want to, ok? SUCCESS! Stop making them feel bad about all that other stuff. The important thing is that the shit left their system and no one has any right to complain about the much bigger mess that they billed you and killed you for. The whole point of being a Republicon means never having to plan anything and blaming everyone else for what comes of their failures.
After their extended tour fighting the Gulf War, Bush landed a plane on the carrier and indeed celebrated their mission being accomplished. He also used the opportunity to make the announcement that major combat operations in Iraq were completed.
Well if the surge was so minor then why did they have to argue so forcefully for it?
And I'm glad you agree that ISIS was a minor thing. So glad that GWB left Iraq in more stable conditions than he found it.
Apparently Don Dotard the candidate didn't think he did. But then Don Dotard the (p)resident needed the wanna-be Mesopotamian Americans to rally behind him, too.
This sounds like you're laying the groundwork for President Bonespurs to start our 20-year commitment to "minor" combat operations in Syria. Or maybe Iran. One or the other. As long as we get to make a lot of noise and then minimize the much greater expense to our blood and treasure having to clean it all up for decades afterward.
TTR is showing his ignorant ass, as usual.
I urge you to go visit an Iraqi war amputee whose limb(s) was/were blown off after George's Great Aircraft Moment and tell them how minimal their contribution was. And how minor the operation was that they were involved in.
Another awesome way for you to show your consistency would be to march on over to the grave of someone killed in Iraq "after major combat operations ended" during the winter and pee on the snow covering it. You can write in urine that they died so that Bush's glory could live. Something like that.
That's a lot of graves you'll be visiting.
Planning for the successful execution and completion of all stages of a war really defeats the real Republicon purpose: And that purpose is the fun of just going to war in the first place.
Shock and awe, dude! Awesome!
It's all fun and games until 90%+ of your lives lost and treasure expended came after Bush got to revel in his glory.
Given those numbers, I'd say that much less of the war was fought prior to Bushie's moment of self-glorification on the aircraft carrier than after.
Republicons like to have fun, shoot stuff, revel in self-glory, and then leave 90+% of the bill and human cost for others to clean up afterward.
That's how they roll. Look at how much they're exploding the debt.
They love it. They're like kids in a sandbox.
If by "Mission Accomplished" he means that he blew the $200 million on cruise missiles that was mean't for the refuges of the war, then yes, he did a good job there.
I realize that chemical weapons need to be dealt with, but blowing them up is another problem.
It would be smarter to blow up the political leadership in their beds.
Let's get those bunker busters and drill them into the palace on the hill.
"The whole tweet so dumb-ass, why focus on one phrase?"
The whole tweet, readering? (As opposed to, say, the very idea of a President "tweeting".)
So you (readering) are saying that:
* The strike was not perfectly executed.
* France and the United Kingdom were not wise and powerful.
* The result could have been better.
* The Mission was not Accomplished.
* Some (or all) of the above?
What exactly are you having the hissy-fit about?
--
I agree that having a President who 'tweets', that is, one who fights his domestic opponents on their own terms, is a novel thing in American politics. It's definitely a step down in the degradation of political discourse in the United States. But it's something that Trump's antagonists have brought upon themselves.
TTR: I urge you to go visit an Iraqi war amputee whose limb(s) was/were blown off after George's Great Aircraft Moment and tell them how minimal their contribution was. And how minor the operation was that they were involved in.
Another awesome way for you to show your consistency would be to march on over to the grave of someone killed in Iraq "after major combat operations ended" during the winter and pee on the snow covering it. You can write in urine that they died so that Bush's glory could live. Something like that.
TTR, if you want to try to lecture me on the Iraq War and the outlook and attitude of veterans of the Iraq War, please direct your remarks to my Combat Infantry Badge, you mewling, venomous little bitch. I and my fellow Ramadi veterans, some of whom are amputees, will have a good, hearty laugh at your expense.
Now go run along, child. Grownups are talking.
People forget that Trump is a bridge and tunnel guy. I think the subtext of "mission accomplished" was: "You want a piece of me, mothas? I got your Blue wave right here."
He may not be a classic gentlemen, but those who think he is ignorant and doesn't know what he's doing or saying are likely to be surprised - again.
I notice that people talk about it -- a successful strike that was coordinated with allies.
Good persuasion technique.
TTR, if you want to try to lecture me on the Iraq War and the outlook and attitude of veterans of the Iraq War, please direct your remarks to my Combat Infantry Badge, you mewling, venomous little bitch. I and my fellow Ramadi veterans, some of whom are amputees, will have a good, hearty laugh at your expense.
Apparently this is why leadership of the military is mandated by the constitution explicitly to be under civilian command. Some people become addicted to violence. If you like the planning, that's fine. And get as many of your friends killed doing it as you want.
But don't charge me the multi-trillion dollar bill afterward. Go take it out of your own taxes, next time. Not sure how much you'll be able to contribute, given how little pay most grunts make. But I appreciate your offer to put it on your own dime. Or we could slim down the budget to more closely align with your meager ability to contribute - but that would mean fewer big fun artillery and ballistics and air coverage and tech toys, and put you on a more even footing with the Iraqis you prefer getting so up close and personal with even when fighting them. Have fun!
Some people become addicted to violence.
Some people become addicted to typing stupid shit about things they don't understand, and making asses of themselves.
Oh, look! TTR's here! What a coincidence!
Jim at 5:20: Yeah, that's the way I remember it from the time, too. Meaning the media are hyperventilating at their own false narrative about what happened. Talk about 'fake news.'
It's plastic turkeys all the way down.
I make one comment and TTR goes way out of his way to prove me correct.
Thanks, TTR.
(I figure that is good for another 4 screeds. I will check back in 3 hours or so. Maybe tomorrow morning. Eh, give or take.)
So you admit that you're addicted to being over there fighting and have no mind for figuring out how a leading nation should actually plan its wars.
Like I said - that's fine. Just do it on your own dime. Pay for your own equipment (2nd amendment militia heritage!), arrange your own transport (just like the ISIS fighters) and do it on your own. Because the way it's being done now is making China a richer and greater nation than us the more you borrow from it to finance your video-game fun-time.
Or fight for the Chinese! They're the ones who own your war debts, after all.
Whatever you say, Cliff Birkel Clavin.
TTR is simultaneously lecturing a professional war planner about war planning while at the same time comparing another one of his betters of being "Cliff Clavin."
TOO FUNNY!
TTR: "Republicons like to have fun, shoot stuff, revel in self-glory, and then leave 90+% of the bill and human cost for others to clean up afterward."
Utter nonsense.
I always pick up at least 11% of the tab.
a professional war planner
LOL! "professional war planner." Too funny.
Obviously since you've never served in a presidential cabinet then I'm assuming you planned a skirmish by virtue of the skills you learned at Trump University or a University of Phoenix online course on "how to shoot stuff and where." Hahaha. Hilarious. Yep. YOU PLANNED THE WHOLE WAR! Right. Some people like telling huge lies. "Jason" from god knows where says he plans entire wars. Yeah, show us all your signed certificate in "war planning." Was it taught at night school?
Can't make this shit up folks.
I think Jason got his certification in "professional war planning" from some Stratego games between himself and some other guys in the squad in undershirts late at night in a bunker.
You know. The way Hitler did it. ROFLMAO!!!!!
The Toothless Revolutionary said...
TTR is showing his ignorant ass, as usual.
I urge you to go visit an Iraqi war amputee whose limb(s) was/were blown off after George's Great Aircraft Moment and tell them how minimal their contribution was. And how minor the operation was that they were involved in.
Don't have to go far. Being a vet and having a bunch of friends who are vets it is fun watching retards like you show your ass.
Just to be clear, you are an idiot. Any decent human being would be embarrassed to be as fucked up as your are.
Obama turned the middle east into a complete pile of shit. I can understand why you want to blame republicans. I put a lot of blame on Bush too. But Obama has more culpability for the current mess than Bush. Bush was just too much of a coward to fight back.
Fortunately for the men over there now we have a real leader who will do his part in the fight. Bush was a coward and let you douchebags get away with your lies.
Truly hilarious. As I've observed elsewhere, Trump is trying to teach the pusillanimous GOPe how not to be cowed by the pearl-clutching Left. A waste of time, I'm sure, but it's great fun to watch these clowns react like Pavlovian dogs and I have no doubt Trump finds it amusing.
TTR: "...you've never served in a presidential cabinet then I'm assuming you planned a skirmish..."
No cabinet member plans any missions.
They identify strategic goals, high level constraints, etc.
Theatre commanders and their staffs work with the appropriate operational commanders to develop the detailed plans which are then submitted for review and approval. This can become an astonishingly irritating iterative process as key considerations/goals/constraints/intel change over time and we know that the plan wont survive first contact with reality so the operational commanders go into the mission knowing the bestest adaptive ooda-loopies are going to win.
Now we have Field Marshall Ritmo.
"It would be smarter to blow up the political leadership in their beds."
Yes I was hoping he would do a Reagan and go for Assad.
4 already.
Thanks TTR.
Granted, it was an easy prediction.
Field Marshall Ritmo, veteran of the bloody Battle of Althouse Blog and winner of the prestigious Order of The Keyboard Warriors for Conspicuous Gallantry in the face of enemy words and clauses and phrases,takes time out of his busy schedule teaching War Planning at the Wikipedia War College to "helpfully" lecture combat veterans on their many planning capability deficiencies.
Field Marshall Ritmo joins an illustrious group of previous award winners including Freder, LLR Chuck, Aide De Camp Inga and ARM.
Lets all join in to give him a rousing cheer of "Huzzah", not once, not twice, but thrice!
Huzzah! x3!
option four:
these folk are so fricking stupid; that they think that 50% approval is in the low 30s
trivia time; which president had higher approval ratings at this point in their presidency, o'bama? or trump?
check, they are so fricking stupid that they think that 50% approval is in the high 30s
Obama turned the middle east into a complete pile of shit.
Hahahahaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahaaaa.
Bush had it in tip-top shape. Just like it had been for the last several thousand years.
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!
Of course he knows. PDT is very stable genius and knows how to tweak the press.
Field Marshall Ritmo, veteran of the bloody Battle of Althouse Blog and winner of the prestigious Order of The Keyboard Warriors for Conspicuous Gallantry in the face of enemy words and clauses and phrases,takes time out of his busy schedule teaching War Planning at the Wikipedia War College to "helpfully" lecture combat veterans on their many planning capability deficiencies.
Field Marshall Ritmo joins an illustrious group of previous award winners including Freder, LLR Chuck, Aide De Camp Inga and ARM.
Lets all join in to give him a rousing cheer of "Huzzah", not once, not twice, but thrice!
Huzzah! x3!
Translation: JUST GIVE ME MY TENS OF TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS THAT I'LL OWE CHINA SO THAT THE PRESIDENT CAN COMMIT TROOPS ANY WAY THE MAKE-WORK CONTRACTORS WANT HIM TO. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!
Pay your own way, little guy. Pay your own way. Vote for any right-wing fool to waste as much as he does on anything that explodes overseas but do it on your own dime. Not the other taxpayers' and not in hock to China.
Fortunately for the men over there now we have a real leader who will do his part in the fight. Bush was a coward and let you douchebags get away with your lies.
Oh I know. All those lies we told about the weapons Bush couldn't find.
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA> ROFLMAO!!!!
Even Trump said that Bush lied about the weapons. So the question is, which right-wing douchebag neocon are you going to believe: Bush, Trump the Campaigner or Trump the new war hawk neocon?
Tough choices. Life's hard when you're a right-wing bootlicker and there are so many right-wing boots to lick. Especially when they start disagreeing with each other openly and viciously.
ROFLMAO!!!
TTR: "Translation: JUST GIVE ME MY TENS OF TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS THAT I'LL OWE CHINA ..."
Again, utter nonsense.
Just give me my tens of trillions of dollars that you'll owe China.
I have no intention of paying them back, not for all the roasted Dog on a Stick they can offer up.
Hillary spokeman blames Syria on Susan Sarandon.
Sarandon responds:
"Sarandon, who revealed that she had faced threats of death and rape from Clinton supporters following the 2016 election, said in a 2017 interview that she believed America would already be at war if Clinton had won the election. “I did think she was very, very dangerous. We would still be fracking, we would be at war [if she was president]. It wouldn’t be much smoother. Look what happened under Obama that we didn’t notice.”
It is fun to watch idiots like TTR go totally unhinged.
Trump hasn't been perfect, but he has been better on the foreign policy side than BushClintonBushObama. He is obviously better than Hillary would have been.
TTR: "Life's hard when you're a right-wing bootlicker..."
Salty Caramel Boots are the totes best.
Earlier TTR: Right-wingers are mindless, lockstep morons.
Later TTR: "Life's hard when you're a right-wing bootlicker and there are so many right-wing boots to lick. Especially when they start disagreeing with each other openly and viciously."
Discuss.
TTR: "Bush had it in tip-top shape. Just like it had been for the last several thousand years"
Then we are agreed: It's all Carter's and Andrew Young's fault.
Kudos.
BTW, my favorite Andrew Young quote of all time is this gem offered up after Castro sent cuban troops to africa: "Cuban troops are a stabilizing influence."
LOL
And Maduro's cuban trained, fully automatic-weapons armed thug shock-troops are certainly a stabilizing influence on the streets of Caracas and elsewhere as the people starve.
What sort of gibberish is roid rager Achilles babbling about now? Something about how Hillary Clinton will prevent Trump from going to war?
I can never figure out what that forgetful lunatic is roid raging about. It's like each of his posts are yet another momentary lapse of reason. They're starting to all blend together into one big long consistent lapse of reason.
I am unclear about whether or not to criticize TTR's continued rantings.
The only way for me to be sure about which rhetorical path to take is to take a good hard look at the polls first and then decide the best course of action based solely on my interpretation of pollsters interpretation of the mood of the electorate.
For I have a "higher loyalty" to logic and reason.
TTR: "Something about how Hillary Clinton will prevent Trump from going to war? "
She falls down alot. Perhaps she will accidentally collapse from "the flu" and "dehydration" and Russian bots again, and right across our resupply train tracks!
It'll be a scene right out of Dudley Do-Right, or Von Ryan's Express. (nobody makes fun of the Chairman and lives to tell of it. Nobody.)
For I have a "higher loyalty" to logic and reason.
Nonsense. You're a republicon.
Your sole loyalty is to the loudest, most self-righteous right-winger that will flap his lips.
" All those lies we told about the weapons Bush couldn't find."
Yes, those weapons that Assad dropped on Douma.
Idiot.
It won't be "Mission Accomplished" until the Left is totally destroyed. Every last one of the cocksuckers.
All of the chemical weapons in Iraq were shipped by truck over the border into Syria and was witnessed in realtime by our intel.
Iraq also sent many of its aircraft and some ships to Iran for safekeeping just prior to the war, including dozens of fighter aircraft.
Iran, naturally, "helpfully" held on to these assets.
For safekeeping.
As "friends" tend to do for each other.
Chemical weapons shipped across the border to Syria shouldn't really be a problem anyway, since John Kerry and obambi assured us, repeatedly, during their "the 80's want's its foreign policy back!" phase that ALL syrian chemical weapons had been accounted for and no longer represented a threat.
Plus, obambi literally asked the russians to ("Price is Right"-style) to "come on down" and be the next contestants on Who Gets To Run Syria!
After which obambi literally released billions of dollars to Iran which helped Iran finance it's terrorist and infiltration operations in Syria!
Hooray!
And everyone knows Russia and Iran and Obambi and Kerry would never lie about Chemical weapons being gone when they actually aren't! No way! That could never happen! Don't let those evil republicans convince you otherwise!
I would like to be a Leftist Collectivist. It seems pretty easy. But every time I try to hold two or more mutually exclusive ideas in my head at the same time, my common sense revolts. For some reason I am unable to believe John Kerry got rid of all Syrian chemical weapons -and- that Assad has used chemical weapons repeatedly.
Or, for example, that Russia is a 1980s threat, capable of forcing Hillary Clinton to use a bathroom server, and that Obama giving Putin flexibility is ok, and that $100,000 of Facebook adds changed votes, and that Trump is a Putin stooge, and that Trump bombing Syrians is wagging the dog.
Nope. I cannot believe all that.
TTR can. He is better than me at irrational belief.
The last Althouse commenter obsessed with linking Clive Claven was named spinelli.
Shirley some socks are getting cucked.
So is no president ever to use the phrase "mission accomplished," because Bush used it? Weird.
The Toothless State-fellator accusing others of "bootlicking" . . . priceless. You know that statement about Big Brother's jackboot pressing down endlessly onto the face of humanity? That jackboot will never need polishing as long as Toothless has a tongue.
And the Mailed Fist of Der Staat will always have a willing home as long as Toothless has a rectum.
It appears TTR's insult hose came on strong but fairly rapidly went flaccid, then turtle.
I've heard different numbers of 13, 30, 70 something out of 120 missiles or fewer fired. President Trump said we had a perfect record.
I regard that as a lie not intended to be believed. Chuck is welcome to attack it. I think it is a lie statesmanship but Chuck doesn't by that reasoning when it's President Trump in question.
Chuck, also, given President Trump's apparent total acceptance of the British research, apparently, as haha FBI did not respond as far as We Know, what do you think about the possibility that PDJT made a mistake or committed a deliberate offense? Conspiring or colluding with foreign powers, Britain and France, to illegally attack a sovereign nation with no basis?
I am more concretely interested in the details of the strike and of what if any defense was done and with what results. The Russians make their outlandish claims but it would not be hard for me to believe that their best can shoot down the tomahawk. Tomahawk is 1970s technology.
"Tomahawk is 1970s technology"
From an aerodynamic perspective, maybe, but the avionics are frequently updated, as are the tactics used in support of cruise missile strikes.
And it's a back handed slap at GWB. Just like the pardon of Libby was. Trump's tweets usually accomplish multiple actions.
Yep. And he didn’t need to name or even allude to Bush to make the point.
So is no president ever to use the phrase “mission accomplished,” because Bush used it? Weird.
It’s a dog whistle which is hurting the left’s ears.
What does it matter so long as some missiles got through? Why did we choose to launch 120 if a fewer number would accomplish the objective? Because we expected some to fail or be shot down, that's why. Niggling over the number that made it to the target is juvenile. And Mission Accomplished applies so long as the objective of the strike was achieved.
I do like and appreciate that he used that phrase. Althouse is correct, he's tweaking all his opponents.
-sw
Bush had it in tip-top shape. Just like it had been for the last several thousand years.
Indeed. Without the sarcasm, yes! When Obama assumed office, Iraq in particular was in pretty good — if not “tip top” — shape (while neither Syria nor Libya nor e.g. Yemen were yet in anything like the mess they’re now in). Here, for instance, we have (then) Vice President Joe Biden bragging about the great success that was Iraq as recently as 2010 (video).
"I realize that chemical weapons need to be dealt with, but blowing them up is another problem."
Two things. A lot of those chemicalsare binary until thay're loaded into a shell or bomb. And th other is that heat destroys a lot of the effectiveness. Not to say that it isn't dangerous for those around the bombings, but it's better than sending in troops and besides Assad was warned.
"What does it matter so long as some missiles got through? Why did we choose to launch 120 if a fewer number would accomplish the objective? Because we expected some to fail or be shot down, that's why. Niggling over the number that made it to the target is juvenile. And Mission Accomplished applies so long as the objective of the strike was achieved."
My assumption was that the goal there was to saturate their air defenses, which we very clearly did. Worse than not doing anything at all, would have been to send in few enough missiles that they could shoot down or otherwise divert enough misses that intended targets would have been missed. That doesn't appear to have been close to have happened. Multiple strikes against multiple targets, reducing, if not temporarily eliminating, their ability to make, store, and deploy chemical weapons.
For those still clinging to the Russian Collusion fable, Trump essentially told Putin that we didn't care if he had military assets there. If they were next to our targets, they were just as dead as the Syrian military there. The Russians couldn't protect Assad. The Iranians couldn't protect him. The Obama era of erasable red lines and wishy washy foreign policy is over. Deal with it. And, no doubt, that Little Rocket Man, over in NORK land was also expected to take notice, esp with three carrier battle groups within striking distance of his workers paradise (along with joint exercises with his neighbors, and the very public forward deployment of some of our long range bombers).
Actually turned out that there was quite a bit going on Friday night, besides the missiles. At one point, there were apparently 13 aerial refueler in the air over Europe. Two mixed packages of 4xF-15Cs and 4xF-16Cs were providing air supremacy. We had B-1B bombers and the French too had bombers making strikes. Electronic warfare planes and drones were flying up and down the coast of Lebannon well before the strikes, in order to map out air defenses in realtime, and battle assessment assets flew over afterwards. All in all, the sort of air campaign that the Pentagon seems to enjoy planning and executing.
The Toothless State-fellator accusing others of "bootlicking" . . . priceless. You know that statement about Big Brother's jackboot pressing down endlessly onto the face of humanity? That jackboot will never need polishing as long as Toothless has a tongue.
And the Mailed Fist of Der Staat will always have a willing home as long as Toothless has a rectum.
Chadwick the State-sexualizer's just upset because his Trump-run state and its propaganda outlet, FOX State TV, are much more beloved by him than they will ever be by me. But it's interesting and sort of gross that he felt such a need to share his strange turn-ons. I guess if his forbidden love with Trump-State turns sour or embarrassing, he can always extract $130,000 to shut up about it from Michael Cohen. But the logistics will be harder because Cohen (and probably Chadwick's lover - Trump) will be wearing orange jumpsuits and forced to facilitate the transfer through more fraught and clandestine means.
I would like to be a Leftist Collectivist.
Well you certainly are a right-wing authoritarian collectivist - who thinks that we should all be collectively subjected to what your orange lunatic leader wants to do or think or say.
Or, for example, that Russia is a 1980s threat.
Any country that hopes to recover the Soviet power/glory that Putin the KGB agent wants to regain is a threat - especially if he wants to do so while playing every other hostile power in the region - Iran, Syria, Hezbollah - against us and dismantling Europe and NATO. He certainly wants to play them against what the right-wingers crow about as our proxy love-child in the region: Israel. And he certainly doesn't care much for international law or the arms conventions that have kept the world a hell of a lot safer after WWII. If that's all something you're good with, you should say so. But you're getting manipulated and played into his agenda, and that's idiotic and unpatriotic.
Nope. I cannot believe all that.
Who knows or cares what you can or will believe? Your whole worldview is prioritized in a warped way that encourages destabilization.
TTR can. He is better than me at irrational belief.
Only because you consider concern for other Americans and the economic stability of their society/country an "irrational belief." But try at it you will. Yes, there is no shortage of truly irrational beliefs you will entertain in the service of your denial of what you've made of the country.
Those answers were boring. Why even bother typing that halfhearted bilge?
I am such an authoritarian I support the federal government being smaller, less intrusive, and financed less, too. Words have definitions. Try using words correctly.
As with "fascist," people on the Left, especially the Stupid Left, have a peculiar concept of "authoritarian." They can be the most ardent statists you'd ever have the misfortune to encounter, and yet they see their opposition as "authoritarian." At most they can retort with a "tu quoque"--lamest of defenses--which comes down to "my authoritarianism is better than your authoritarianism," presumably because theirs is for the Common Good, a Higher Cause, or whatever shibboleth they're invoking to justify their aggression. Basically it's all Leftist projection and denial. Or just outright looniness, which is what you're dealing with here, Birkel.
As with "fascist," people on the Left, especially the Stupid Left, have a peculiar concept of "authoritarian." They can be the most ardent statists you'd ever have the misfortune to encounter, and yet they see their opposition as "authoritarian." At most they can retort with a "tu quoque"--lamest of defenses--which comes down to "my authoritarianism is better than your authoritarianism," presumably because theirs is for the Common Good, a Higher Cause, or whatever shibboleth they're invoking to justify their aggression. Basically it's all Leftist projection and denial. Or just outright looniness, which is what you're dealing with here, Birkel.
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