Is this true? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

mwood · #1 11-03-2008, 03:55 PM

I didn't have time to research this story as I'm walking out of the office for a meeting, but I wanted to see if anyone else has seen or heard any of this yet. I'll return later with my flame suit on!

Ready for a shock? Below is an article from the London Times about our military. Interesting, it is! Our media coverage is shameful!

Winning Isn't News

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Iraq: What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn't tell the American public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we've defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq .

London's Sunday Times called it "the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror." A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq, has over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul.

The destruction of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) is one of the most unlikely and unforeseen events in the l ong history of American warfare. We can thank President Bush's surge strategy, in which he bucked both Republican and Democratic leaders inWashington by increasing our forces there instead of surrendering.

We can also thank the leadership of the new general he placed in charge there, David Petraeus, who may be the foremost expert in the world on counter-insurgency warfare. And we can thank those serving in our military in Iraq who engaged local Iraqi tribal leaders and convinced them America was their friend and AQI their enemy.

Al-Qaida's loss of the hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis began in Anbar Province, which had been written off as a basket case, and spread out from there.

Now, in Operation Lion's Roar the Iraqi army and the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is destroying the fraction of terrorists who are left. More than 1,000 AQI operatives have already been apprehended.

Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, traveling with Iraqi forces in Mosul, found little AQI presence even in bullet-ridden residential areas that were once insurgency strongholds, and reported that the terrorists have lost control of its Mosul urban base, with what is left of the organization having fled south into the countryside.

Meanwhile, the State Department reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has achieved "satisfactory" progress on 15 of the 18 political benchmarks "a big change for the better from a year ago."

Things are going so well that Maliki has even for the first time floated the idea of a timetable for withdrawal of American forces. He did so while visiting the United Arab Emirates , which over the weekend announced that it was forgiving almost $7 billion of debt owed by Baghdad, an impressive vote of confidence from a fellow Arab state in the future of a free Iraq.

But where are the headlines and the front-page stories about all this good news? As the Media Research Center pointed out last week, "the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 were silent Tuesday night about the benchmarks "that signaled political progress."

The war in Iraq has been turned around180 degrees both militarily and politically because the president stuck to his guns. Yet apart from IBD, Fox News Channel and parts of the foreign press, the media don't seem to consider this historic event a big story.

Copyright 2008 Investor's Business Daily. All Rights Reserved.

Addendum: The reason you haven't seen this on American television or read about it in the American press is simple--journalism is "dead" in this country. They are controlled by Liberal Democrats who would rather see our troops defeated than recognize a successful Republican initiated response to 9/11.

More Marines killed on motorcycles in the U S past 6 months than were killed in Iraq . Article: from CNN

QUANTICO, Virginia (CNN) -- Motorcycle accidents have killed more Marines in the past 12 months than enemy fire in Iraq, a rate that's so alarming, it has prompted top brass to call a meeting to address the issue, officials say.

Despite crashes, Gunnery Sgt. Art Tucker rides a sport motorcycle. "I enjoy it. ... It relaxes me," he says.

Twenty-five Marines have died in motorcycle crashes since November -- all but one of them involving sport bikes that can reach speeds of well over 100 mph, according to Marine officials. In that same period, 20 Marines have been killed in action in Iraq .

The 25 deaths are the highest motorcycle death toll ever for the Marine Corps.

Gen. James Amos, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, told CNN that commanders are trying to drill down on what "we need to do to help

Another headline recently you probably didn't see. WMD coverup to keep Al Qaida in the dark found in Iraq at beginning of war effort. Shipped to Canada for disposal. Bush had to keep that one under his hat. Good thing Pelosi and Reid weren't told.

Article from the A P:

On July 5, 2008, the Associated Press (AP)
released a story titled: Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq .

The opening paragraph is as follows:

The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.

See anything wrong with this picture? We have been hearing from the far-left for more than five years how, Bush lied. Somehow, that slogan loses its credibility now that 550 metric tons of Saddam's yellowcake, used for nuclear weapon enrichment, has been discovered and shipped to Canada for its new use as nuclear energy.

It appears that American troops found the 550 metric tons of uranium in 2003 after invading Iraq . They had to sit on this information and the uranium itself, for fear of terrorists attempting to steal it. It was guarded and kept safe by our military in a 23,000-acre site with large sand beams surrounding the site.

This is vindication for the Bush administration, having been attacked mercilessly by the liberal media and the far-left pundits on the blogosphere. Now that it is proven that President Bush did not lie about Saddam's nuclear ambitions, one would think the
mainstream media would report the story. Once the AP released the story, the mainstream media should have picked it up and broadcast it worldwide.

This never happened, due in large part I believe, to the fact that the mainstream media would have to admit they were wrong about Bush's war motives all along. Thankfully, the AP got it right when it said,

The removal of 550 metric tons of yellowcake the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy.

Honus · #2 11-03-2008, 04:01 PM

If we've won the war, why are we still spending $10 billion per month?

And why can't our military come home?

G-Benz · #3 11-03-2008, 04:08 PM

...and NO WAY can you tell me that the US media hasn't been covering this.

The war effort hasn't made the front pages because the media would rather spend their time and energy reporting on the latest bulls#it smear campaign as the election draws near!

Mistress · #4 11-03-2008, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dculkin

If we've won the war, why are we still spending $10 billion per month?

And why can't our military come home?

thank you.

LUVMBDiesels · #5 11-03-2008, 04:22 PM

This sounds about right to me... We have seen the surge working ( well most of us have anyway) and the stories of AQiI being rolled up have been coming out of Iraq over the past year. Of course those stories are not headline news while a homcide bomber is. The story about the yellowcake is new to me -- I must check it out. This would not be the first time an administration has had to sit on information that would vindicate it's actions due to national security concerns. Iraq IS getting better and is well on it's way to achieving stability.

As for our troops still being there and the $$ being spent - I believe that most of that money is now being spent on training Iraqi troops and integrating them into our style of cammand and control. Condi went over there about a month ago to start the negotiations to bring some of the troops home. The real danger is that if we pull out before Iraq can handle its own security all the sacrifices of the brave troops and the Iraqi people will come to naught as the nation collapses under pressure from Iran and Syria.

UPDATE:

The yellocake story is true. I have seen articles from sources such as MSNBC and CBS (both very conservative sources) that reported it. It just never made headlines. This yellowcake had been in Iraq since 1991 and was sitting because we had denied Saddam the purchase of the centrifuges he needed to separate the U238 from the U235. It could have still been made in to 'dirty bombs' and used by terrorists to contaminate a city or two. This was some of the stuff the UN inspectors were trying to inspect while being led around by their noses by Saddam. hmmm WMDs? Not really, but close to it.

BTW: the deal was made between the Iraqui Government and Canada and netted the Iraqis "tens of millions of dollars" I bet that they ARE happy they got rid of it -- and Saddam

MTI · #6 11-03-2008, 04:32 PM

The Iraqi people must be really happy with us now!

Jim B. · #7 11-03-2008, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dculkin

If we've won the war, why are we still spending $10 billion per month?

And why can't our military come home?

No, there has been NO "victory". Sorry. The best we have to hope for is a really well planned withdrawal that allows the Iraqi people to maintain a modicum of stability.

I fully understand what "victory" means. I know what "defeat" means. Iraq is neither. It is in that big gray area of "draw". nobody won, nobody lost [well, except for half a million Iraqi people and the families of all the American and Coalition troops who were killed or wounded].

Since we had a fully undefined mission, without an endgame, the very concept of "victory" is impossible. Only a rationalization of which degree of "draw" will allow folks to walk away with their heads held high. And I don't mean the troops, I mean the leadership. The troops did EVERYTHING asked of them. They can hold their heads up with honor. They did their jobs. Their leaders did not.

LUVMBDiesels · #8 11-03-2008, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim B.

No, there has been NO "victory". Sorry. The best we have to hope for is a really well planned withdrawal that allows the Iraqi people to maintain a modicum of stability.

I fully understand what "victory" means. I know what "defeat" means. Iraq is neither. It is in that big gray area of "draw". nobody won, nobody lost [well, except for half a million Iraqi people and the families of all the American and Coalition troops who were killed or wounded].

Since we had a fully undefined mission, without an endgame, the very concept of "victory" is impossible. Only a rationalization of which degree of "draw" will allow folks to walk away with their heads held high. And I don't mean the troops, I mean the leadership. The troops did EVERYTHING asked of them. They can hold their heads up with honor. They did their jobs. Their leaders did not.

I don't know Jim, If we leave Iraq in the hands of a stable westward leaning democracy I would say that was a victory. If we pull out and leave them unstable and they fall into a cycle of never ending civil wars like Sudan but remain out of the world scene -- that would be a draw. If they become an Iranian client state and a launching pad for attacks on the West then we have lost.

I do agree that our political leadership has been pitiful on both sides of the aisle and that our troops have done whatever was asked of them with honor and pride. Our military has shown that the stigma of Vietnam and the Carter years is fully gone and that they are the baddest MF-ers on the planet.
They have also shown that the idea of the compassionate American soldier is alive and well. I read the stories on Sprit of America.com and I am always amazed at how much our men and women really care about the Iraqi and Afghani people. This was NOT a brutal occupation force (like the Wehrmacht in France in 1941) but a true liberation force.

MTI · #9 11-03-2008, 04:52 PM

The uranium story . . . how many times have forum members discussed this?

Pre invasion . . . the UN inspectors knew about this stockpile.

Post invasion, the US didn't provide the security to necessary to safeguard it, despite knowing that it was part of the Iraq inventory. The US didn't sit on the information, there was an outcry from the IAEA to get it the attention it deserved.

DieselAddict · #10 11-03-2008, 05:09 PM

Same old tired BS. The truth is, there was no AQ in Saddam's Iraq before the invasion. And even Gen. Patreaus said that there would be no "victory" in Iraq. Look it up.

Jorn · #11 11-03-2008, 05:21 PM

And most of the insurgents are "gone" because they are on the US pay-roll now.

Brian Carlton · #12 11-03-2008, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim B.

No, there has been NO "victory". Sorry. The best we have to hope for is a really well planned withdrawal that allows the Iraqi people to maintain a modicum of stability.

I fully understand what "victory" means. I know what "defeat" means. Iraq is neither. It is in that big gray area of "draw". nobody won, nobody lost [well, except for half a million Iraqi people and the families of all the American and Coalition troops who were killed or wounded].

Absolutely correct.

To achieve total "victory", you need political stability. You'll achieve political stability in a country with three completely independent religious factions when hell freezes over.

There is NFW this country doesn't fall back into military turmoil within 10 years of our "departure".

Naturally, if we maintain a presence of 75,000 troops to prevent that from happening, we never did get to the end of the original conflict.

However, be clear that last Saturday was exactly 5 1/2 years since the declaration of "Mission Accomplished" by the most accomplished moron in history.

Medmech · #13 11-03-2008, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

However, be clear that last Saturday was exactly 5 1/2 years since the declaration of "Mission Accomplished" by the most accomplished moron in history.

5 1/2 years? Lol are you counting the days or something? Personally I think 4 1/3 was much more significant.