Ralph Peters Translates Obama’s Lejeune Lies
Video of the lie here.
OBAMA’S PHONY PULLOUT
REAL IRAQ PLAN: STAY IN & WIN
by Ralph Peters
YESTERDAY, President Obama went to Camp Lejeune. He spoke in front of US Marines, but his real audience was his left-wing campaign supporters.
And his carefully worded speech - its parsing of language worthy of Bill Clinton - may go down in history as his “Mission Accomplished” moment. We’ll see who leaves Iraq when.
During last year’s presidential campaign, it was evident that Obama wouldn’t keep his promises to his leftist base to pull our troops out rapidly.
While he benefited greatly from the troop surge he opposed - which handed him a convalescent Iraq - he’s learning that reality trumps rhetoric.
Forcefully delivered, his speech to the Marines served up more waffles than the International House of Pancakes.
Consider his big sound bite: “Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.” What does that mean?
Will the 50,000 troops he intends to leave in Iraq, the trainers and maintainers, be forbidden to defend themselves? Are they just going to hang out? If terrorists or the Iranians skunk us, are we just going to ask for more?
The enemy gets a say, too. The situation on the ground will determine when combat operations end. Obama’s just going to call them something else.
In the immortal phrasing of Ol’ Bill, it depends on what the meaning of “is” is.
As for Obama’s claim that “I have chosen a timeline that will remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months,” just watch.
We’re not going to leave 50,000 support troops in Iraq without combat units to protect them. We’ll just ban the word “brigade” and call our shooters “task forces.”
The reality all along has been that Obama can’t cut and run.
He began campaigning for a second term on Inauguration Day and he’s not going to let himself be blamed for “losing” Iraq.
Meanwhile, he’s praying that progress continues in Baghdad.
As for yesterday’s boilerplate nonsense that “The end of the war in Iraq will enable a new era of American leadership and engagement in the Middle East,” hey, if it does, thank George W. Bush. History has a wicked sense of humor.
Of course, the rhetoric’s necessary. Obama had to lecture the Marines to placate the angry extremists who put him in office.
The fundamental purpose of the speech was to hide the 50,000 residual troops in plain sight: “It’s OK, see? They’re not combat troops.” Obama’s scared as a naked sheriff at a moonshiners’ convention.
He piggybacked on the left’s hatred of “Bush’s war” in Iraq, but had to show his tough-on-security bones during the campaign.
A strategic novice, he declared Afghanistan the good war. Now it’s his. And while Iraq looks increasingly like a success story, Afghanistan’s going south. Iraq’s the prize, Afghanistan’s the booby prize.
Success in Afghanistan’s a one-off, while even a half-baked democracy in Iraq changes the Middle East. And Pakistan’s the monster under the White House bed. In artilleryman’s parlance, Obama’s speech to the Marines was all flash, no bang.
He’s struggling to appear decisive while carving out maximum wiggle room. And in the modern tradition of Democratic presidents, he just wishes these foreign conflicts would go away. But they won’t.
Welcome to reality, Mr. President.
A letter at Powerline by a Marine’s spouse echoes something I said a few weeks ago:
I am a Marine Corps spouse living in [town deleted], North Carolina. We are between MCAS Cherry Point and Camp Lejeune…[Identifying information regarding her husband's command responsibility has been deleted.] In [month deleted] 2008, I attended the spouse portion of a commander’s course in Quantico, Virginia. At that time we (spouses) were informed that, yes, the situation in Iraq was winding down but that we could and should expect an uptick in the tempo over in Afghanistan, as the focus would be shifting.
Late last year my husband informed me that Marines stationed here in North Carolina (read Camp Lejeune, Cherry Point and MCAS New River) would be tasked with the Marine Expedtionary Brigade slated to go. Currently, Marines from the 2nd Marine Division and 2nd Marine Air Wing are over in Iraq.
I am so angry at President Obama for being so disingenuous during his speech yesterday. He preys on the false hopes of Marine spouses and families by telling them that the troops will be leaving Iraq. But, in the next breath, he says that this “draw down” will not be occurring for a while. To add insult to injury, he does not make a strong point of telling families that while indeed their Marine may be coming home, they should not take comfort in that because they will have to turn around and go to Afghanistan.
I am angry not because I can’t handle it — this is my husband’s [number deleted] deployment in five years. I’m angry because by being so disingenuous [President Obama creates] false hope. That’s disastrous to an 18 year old who is all alone in a new place with no family.
Once that is destroyed you create bitterness and hatred towards the military and organizations such as the IVAW. Spouses and families insist that their loved one get out. I don’t believe for one second that President Obama or his wife respect the military at all. People wonder why there is such a disconnect between civilians and the military. This is why.
The United States (the Bush Administration) was heavily criticized for “going it alone” in Iraq. Yet, look at the progress and the changes Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen were able to bring to Iraq while going it alone. Compare this to the multinational NATO effort in Afghanistan. I would much rather go it alone and have a better chance at success.
Me: Yep!
 |
|
The Marine spouse’s words here speak volumes.I am very interested to know how hussien’s speech went over with those Marines “positioned” in the hangar at Lejuene..
I sincerely hope they didn’t drink the kool-aid that was served up.
Barry Lied and Good men and Women Died!!!
O.B.A.M.A. One Big Ass Mistake America
Ooo-fuckin-rah! And now you know the rest of the story, good day.
Having a career Marine as a son, I have seen him deploy twice to the sand lot and am thankful that his previous deployments were mandated by a CiC who actually held a true belief of what America stands for and was willing to go it alone when faced by the very people he was protecting, the nay sayers and ‘America is wrong’ group of cowards. If he deploys under this CiC (presumed CiC) I wish only to see Obama’s birth certificate to affirm that he is in fact duly elected to office. Family of deployed soldiers, sailors, airmen , or Marines should insist that this document be displayed and verified authentic before any more of our courageous troops make the sacrifice. Then we too, can be proud of our Nation.