(2006-11-15) — Sen. Carl Levin, soon to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today said that reducing U.S. troop levels in Iraq is the best way to train Iraqi soldiers, since they’ll have to defend weakened U.S. garrisons from insurgents emboldened by the American retreat.
“Iraqi troops need to get more fighting experience,” said Sen. Levin at a hearing on Capitol Hill. “By having them guard U.S. bases as we redeploy our troops from the country, they’ll gain confidence and skill.”
The Michigan Democrat said an immediate phased withdrawal of U.S. troops would also bring more insurgents out of the shadows to strike departing U.S. convoys and helicopters.
“This will give the Iraqi army a chance to arrest the insurgents and bring them to justice,” he said. “That’s all good training. The Iraqis have got our back. They’ll stand up as we dwindle down.”
34 responses so far ↓
1 RedPepper // Nov 15, 2006 at 2:21 pm
Hmmm. Scott, mebbe ya oughta switch to the decaf …
2 Scott Ott // Nov 15, 2006 at 2:25 pm
Iraqi Troops to Learn by Defending U.S. Garrisons…
by Scott Ott(2006-11-15) — Sen. Carl Levin, soon to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today said that reducing U.S. troop levels in Iraq is the best way to train Iraqi soldiers, since they’ll have to defend weakened U.S. garrisons…
3 conserve-a-tips // Nov 15, 2006 at 2:29 pm
Scott, when God said, “Be fruitful and multiply” I think he was referring to children.
4 puzzletop // Nov 15, 2006 at 2:29 pm
This would almost be funny if it wasn’t so true.
5 seneuba // Nov 15, 2006 at 2:32 pm
Can’t we just drop the SFO School Board on them?
6 Bill's Bites // Nov 15, 2006 at 2:48 pm
Get Out Now? Not So Fast, Experts Say; Reid Pledges To Press Bush On Iraq Policy’; Bush Initiates Iraq Policy Review Separate From Baker Group’s…
Zinni, Batiste: Withdrawal would be disastrous Allahpundit They want out, just not so badly that they’re willing to let Iraq go to hell in the process. In fact, each is open to sending more troops in the near term. Batiste…
7 JQ // Nov 15, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Here’s an update from Montana:
“Switch gives Democrats control of Montana Senate”
One of our Senators (after an election which left our Senate tied) just decided to jump the fence from liberal Republican to confirmed Democrat, giving the Democrats the majority. How underhanded is that, switching parties mid-term?
I tell ya, it’s enough to make me distrust politicians.
8 JQ // Nov 15, 2006 at 3:17 pm
Here’s an update from Montana:
“Switch gives Democrats control of Montana Senate”
One of our Senators (after an election which left our Senate tied) just decided to jump the fence from liberal Republican to confirmed Democrat, giving the Democrats the majority. How underhanded is that, switching parties mid-term?
I tell ya, it’s enough to make me distrust politicians!
9 gafisher // Nov 15, 2006 at 3:33 pm
That’s an excellent strategy, Senator Lenin! The Iraqis have shown they aren’t ready yet to defend their own lives, fortunes, and sacred honor; maybe defending those of others will be less stressful.
10 Shelly // Nov 15, 2006 at 3:38 pm
But could they defend Jack Murtha? The Americans don’t seem to be able to.
I was never with the “it would be good for the GOP to lose in 2006″ crowd, but I’m starting to wonder if they weren’t right. I don’t think two years will be long enough for the libs to figure out what their “plan” is. And they will definitely be fun to watch!
11 JamesonLewis3rd // Nov 15, 2006 at 3:42 pm
Bandwagon-Jumping as an art form.
12 JamesonLewis3rd // Nov 15, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Olympic Bandwagon-Jumping.
13 JamesonLewis3rd // Nov 15, 2006 at 3:45 pm
Bandwagon-Jumping with the Stars.
14 conserve-a-tips // Nov 15, 2006 at 4:31 pm
Project Bandwagon-jumping
As The Bandwagon-jumping Turns
Bandwagon-Jumping 91210
15 conserve-a-tips // Nov 15, 2006 at 4:33 pm
Oh and I forgot - the National Bandwagon-Jumping Association also known as the NBA. Of course one must include the National Bandwagon-jumping Activities Association also known as the NBAA.
Can this get anymore stupid?
16 Darthmeister // Nov 15, 2006 at 4:46 pm
Looks like the DemDonks are triangulating toward another Vietnam post-war scenario.
Will the troops on the last U.S. helicopter out of Baghdad please turn out the lights. I wonder what the Iraqi version of Vietnamese boatpeople will look like? Thanks libs.
17 Laughing@You // Nov 15, 2006 at 4:52 pm
Shelly,
A Republican Strategery to lose; I might have known. That Rove is so are smaart!
Say, that “band wagon” you’ve got there, does it belong to ghoti, and his colorful bunch of honkers, bangers, and blowers?
I just thought I’d ask.
18 Darthmeister // Nov 15, 2006 at 5:01 pm
Buwahahahahaha! Talk about
MoronicHarmonic Divergence:UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Iran, whose president has vowed to wipe Israel off the map, complained to the United Nations on Wednesday that the Jewish state was repeatedly threatening to bomb it.
The threats were “matters of extreme gravity” and the U.N. Security Council should condemn them and demand that Israel “cease and desist immediately from the threat of the use of force against members of the United Nations,” Iranian U.N. Ambassador Javad Zarif said.
His comments came in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan dated Nov. 10 and circulated at the United Nations on Wednesday.
What utter
moronsmisguided souls. Do the Iranians really believe their Orwellian hypocrisy and double-standards actually fools anybody? Well, maybe the Democrats and thedoltsdignitaries at the UN.19 Laughing@You // Nov 15, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Henry,
I understand your knees, and age, and likely much more won’t allow you to enter the service the normal way; but, maybe you could get a deal like “Brownie”, and kinda start at, or near the top.
Why don’t you write Dumbyah and tell him you are a big supporter, and what a narrow view you take on everything. And be sure and tell him to you’re a real “knowitall”.
Did you everthink? Who knows?
20 conserve-a-tips // Nov 15, 2006 at 5:24 pm
Darthmeister, I just laughed this morning when I heard the headlines that leaders were “shocked and dismayed at the IAEA’s announcement that they had discovered Plutonium and weapons grade Uranium in Iran.” They declared that this is just unacceptable!
Shocked? Dismayed? And I suppose the wife of the alcoholic is shocked and dismayed when he comes home drunk for the umpteenth millionth time? Talk about denial. Sheesh.
21 Darthmeister // Nov 15, 2006 at 6:04 pm
Be sure and watch Glenn Beck’s Exposed: The Extremist Agenda on CNN tonight. Probably about the only worthwhile thing CNN has done since 9/11.
Recent interview excerpt:
GLENN BECK: I will tell you that it has been probably the battle of my life to be able to get these images on television. I will tell you also, however, that there have been people very high up at CNN that have stood next to me and fought with me to air this special …
When you are calling out the president of Iran and you see him at the UN where he is praying for strength to play his role, to bring back the promised one, when he then has on his own state-run television something that nobody else will play, him in front of a crowd saying, “Soon we will burn the mark of eternal shame in the foreheads of the unbelievers,” when he on his own state-run television says, “We are going all the way to ancient Babylon, which will be the seat of the Islamic global government,” you’ve got to put that in the context of religiosity. You guys are Christian. I heard that and I thought, “Oh, holy cow! What does that mean?” Nobody in mainstream media wants to air that.
We have images of cartoons that they run on their Saturday morning cartoon shows of kids in cartoon form with the suicide belt on and they are waiting. One clip we’re going to show tonight is the cartoon character waiting on a cliff seeing the Israeli and American trucks go by, they jump off the cliff onto the top of the truck, pulling the pins of the hand grenade screaming “Allah Akbar!” on the way down and then the cartoon explosion. It is so firmly mainstream …
The biggest lie is, is that, A, you can’t take these people seriously, because, oh, we have our own religious zealots like, you know, Jerry Falwell. They’re not American religious zealots, if you will. These guys have an Armageddon doomsday wish, and then when you couple that with the untruth that, “Oh, well, it’s just a few.” This is (Muslim) mainstream television that I’m showing you tonight.
22 camojack // Nov 15, 2006 at 7:39 pm
As in other places, I figure we’ll have troops stationed in Iraq for a long time to come…
23 conserve-a-tips // Nov 15, 2006 at 8:00 pm
Well, I just finished watching Glenn Beck’s special. After seeing the one on Fox the other night that had some of the same footage, I am thinking that maybe the word is getting out. I feel like I am living the days of my grandparents, just with better access to information. I am hoping that we don’t make the same mistakes as that generation regarding Hitler.
Oh, and Darthmeister, if I strike
John F. Kerrydoes that mean that he goes away?? Thanks for the instructions. That is just too fun!!24 egospeak // Nov 15, 2006 at 8:30 pm
I just got back on the net, had to go to work you know; got a lot more people to support with my taxes now that the Democrats will soon be in charge.
I’ve read this thread half a dozen times and I’ve got to say that I’m terribly disappointed with Scott. I thought this was a parody/satire site. Just kidding Scott… it just sounds so much like what Levin would/will/has said.
C.A.T’s
re: previous thread.
I never much liked that song. Now I have every confidence that I’ll hate it forever. Great job! Are you a lyricist on the side?
Regards,
25 mig // Nov 15, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Band Wagon?American Band Stand? American Ban San Fran…
Okay, never mind. It is definatley past my bed time. Night all.
26 egospeak // Nov 15, 2006 at 9:52 pm
italic bold
strike27 egospeak // Nov 15, 2006 at 9:54 pm
That is
neatcool!28 Ms RightWing, Ink // Nov 15, 2006 at 10:03 pm
Glen Beck-isn’t he the Mormon who is rubbing his hands in glee hoping the end will come. I know that is a negative blow but I just can’t handle the ex-coke head, boozer no more.
He is so worried about Iran bringing the Armageddon to fruition, but he is rather excited about it himself
[Running for cover again after saying what I think-I gotta quit that]
29 conserve-a-tips // Nov 15, 2006 at 10:36 pm
Ms Rightwing, Ink - you don’t have to run for cover! We all have a right to voice an opinion…well…we did…I am not sure that will continue with the present congressional leadership.
Beck’s take was that the Iranian president is just like Hitler and has the same plans for the Jews. He is just reminding us how the world approached Hitler and that we need to learn from the past. He did not say that Armageddon was imminent, but that Ahm-a-durn-nutjob thinks that it is and the he is supposed to usher it in. It was pretty creepy that the “ugly one” just said the other day that they would “brand the sign of shame” on every infidel’s forehead and that the US is the antichrist. I think that the “little man” has been reading too many apocalyptic novels. Beck was just saying that the world waited too long to deal with Hitler and they had better not make the same mistake twice, or Israel will be leveled.
30 egospeak // Nov 15, 2006 at 10:36 pm
Ms RWI,
I’m not so sure he’s rubbing his hands together with glee hoping the end will come. I accept that he believes that Ahmahdinajhamalamadingdong really thinks that he is supposed to usher in the 12th Imam and will try to ignite Armageddon to accomplish it.
Christians (among whom I count myself) believe that God controls the timetable, however that doesn’t mean that we humans can’t cause a lot of problems along the way. And with nuclear toys to play with problems can have a very broad definition.
I tend to think he is more worried than excited because he thinks the rest of the world isn’t taking this guy seriously enough. Just my opinion. BTW I didn’t see his show tonight and I will confess that he does seem to be obsessed with the goings on in the Middle East.
No need to run for cover.
Regards
31 conserve-a-tips // Nov 15, 2006 at 10:45 pm
Heh guys. Just thought I would tell you how bad the economy is.
Two weeks ago, Thursday, the daughter was called into her boss’s boss’s office and told that she was out on her keester. Her boss was horrified and pleaded that the daughter had done everything she had ever been told, had gone above and beyond the call of duty and had been an asset deluxe. No dice. Politics. We’re talking a state institution here, and there is no moving up - only moving out - for everything from cronyism to insecurity to sneezing wrong. The daughter was devastated and felt like her world had come crashing down. She was embarrassed and demoralized.
Fast forward almost two weeks. Posting resumes and cover letters like a trooper, the daughter has been working diligently to apply for jobs. Most don’t close postings until next week, but she saw this job in the paper that looked rather curious. She applied by email yesterday and within 7 minutes, was called for an interview. Awesome interview today and they have offered her a job at more then her previous state job, better insurance and a chance to advance and advance. And it is in the field for which she is really qualified. And she gets to hobnob with the movers and shakers. Very prestigious company. Let’s see. She must be really lucky because it was my understanding that this is the worst job market since the Depression. Go figure.
32 conserve-a-tips // Nov 15, 2006 at 10:47 pm
Egospeak:
Ahm-a-durn-nutjobNow you see him. Now you don’t
33 Ms RightWing, Ink // Nov 16, 2006 at 12:48 am
I agree with all the above. Maybe it is Glenn Beck. He is such a whiner. All the time reminding us how dumb he is.
I remember the first time he was ever on as a conservative talk show host. It twas the Saturday after 911. I didn’t like him way back then and my feelings haven’t much changed since.
All the things he says, yup, everyone else is talking about also, but he sorta feels he is the only voice talking about Eastern nutjobs.
34 Darthmeister // Nov 16, 2006 at 8:42 am
Ms RightWing,
There wasn’t really one thing in the show that we haven’t discussed or knew about here at Scrappleface. Too bad this show didn’t run on major networks BEFORE the election, but then most Americans are still in denial.
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