A Dem Flips....Lanny Davis.....

[JustRalph]

http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/07/21/confessions-of-an-anti-iraq-war-democrat-memories-of-a-purple-finger/

Lanny Davis has a heart to heart with himself........................

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/slc987/purpleFinger.jpg

"But then came my first moment of doubt.

I saw on TV in early 2005, in their first preliminary democratic elections, long lines of Iraqis waiting to vote under the hot desert sun with bombs and shrapnel exploding around them. Waiting to vote!

And then there was that indelible image — an older woman shrouded in a carpet-like cape, smiling gleefully and holding her purple finger in the air for the TV cameras, purple with ink showing that she had voted.

Smiling! In the middle of war! At U.S. troops standing nearby!

Wow, I thought. Is it possible I was wrong?

Is it possible, I wondered, that Iraqis truly did want democracy and freedom and the right to vote and government of the people, just as we Americans do? And were willing to fight for it, with our help?

Wouldn’t that be a good thing? Even a great thing?"

[rastajenk]

I wonder how he'll like the tag, "neo-con scum?" :)

[lsbets]

The day of that election is one that I will never forget. I took a convoy from about an hour south of Baghdad to an air base in Balad, just north of Baghdad. All the intel said to expect a lot of attacks, tension was high as hell, and we had no idea what to expect. The first thing we noticed were the long lines of people walking to go vote. Security was tight, the insurgency had vowed to kill anyone they could who was headed to the polls. Despite that, there were long lines everywhere we went. It was amazing, and left no doubt with me that if we could provide enough security to get the Iraqis some breathing room they would get everything worked out in their country. Unfortunately, our military strategy right after the elections seemed to be "Well, they had the elections, we don't have to do much now". Once Petraeus was put in charge and implemented a real plan to secure the country and give the Iraqis the breathing room they needed, things turned pretty quickly (and when I would mention what guys over there wer telling me, I would get savaged by the usual suspects here, who after all have a much better handle on things than I did). And I am not surprised at all by the success, despite the best efforts of some at home to undermine any chance of success for political gain. As the third ranking Dem in Congress said, success in Iraq is bad for their party. That day with those elections is one that will always stay with me, and one I am proud as hell to say I was a part of.

[Tom]

Funny how the libs do not get that.
The only thinking they are programed to say is "come Home."

Remember the WWI song by Irving Berlin - Over There?

"We won't be back until it's over, over there." That's the timeline.

Be proud, ls, that you helped make it happen while others whined and cried at home. Wasn't thier turnout rate much higher than ours here at home? Says a lot.

Dems do not like free and fair elections anywhere. Bad precedent. :D

[bigmack]

Lanny Davis has had his head so far up the bums of Bill & Hillary I'm surprised he's capable of rational thought.

[toetoe]

Mr. Begala (sp.?) hasn't been up there, has he ? With the biggest forehead since the heyday of Gene Siskel, he could do some real damage. After all, id doan b'LONG back deah. If it did, it would be called an afthead; am I right ?

Speaking of Iraqis determined to be free, I wonder whether they are willing to fight WITHOUT our help. :confused:

[NJ Stinks]

Isbets, that you were there and feel a great deal of pride about it is all well and good.

What's bad is that I have no interest in Iraq. Period. You say they want a democracy. Fine. Let them fight for one. The price we have paid and are paying in military personnel and financially is far greater than any possible reward for the U.S. unless we are fighting for their oil fields. But the prez denies that we are.

So when I hear people saying the U.S. is winning in Iraq, I wonder what that means. We are not fighting there because Iraq was/is a threat to the U.S. We are not fighting there because Iraq attacked a U.S. ally.

Maybe you can tell me. What exactly is it that we are winning that justifies the cost to the U.S.?

[wonatthewire1]

Funny how the libs do not get that.
The only thinking they are programed to say is "come Home."

Remember the WWI song by Irving Berlin - Over There?

"We won't be back until it's over, over there." That's the timeline.

Be proud, ls, that you helped make it happen while others whined and cried at home. Wasn't thier turnout rate much higher than ours here at home? Says a lot.

Dems do not like free and fair elections anywhere. Bad precedent. :D


Interesting time to be bringing this one back to the forefront?

Very cool - but the bill is coming due - how are the Iraqis going to come up with the scratch to pay us back?

No election is Free ($) and we should be getting some money back from them to get them to "free"

[lsbets]

Isbets, that you were there and feel a great deal of pride about it is all well and good.

What's bad is that I have no interest in Iraq. Period.

Do you really think I would find any interest in wasting my time discussing the meaning of winning in Iraq when you begin your post to me like that? No thanks, I have better things to do. I'll bow out of this one. I thought some people might find it interesting to hear the take of someone who was there when they had the first elections and saw them happen. I had guys out all over the country that day who all reported the same thing - long lines of people waiting to vote. Its an image that has stuck with me 3 1/2 years later. It was a pretty special day.

[NJ Stinks]

Do you really think I would find any interest in wasting my time discussing the meaning of winning in Iraq when you begin your post to me like that? No thanks, I have better things to do. I'll bow out of this one. I thought some people might find it interesting to hear the take of someone who was there when they had the first elections and saw them happen. I had guys out all over the country that day who all reported the same thing - long lines of people waiting to vote. Its an image that has stuck with me 3 1/2 years later. It was a pretty special day.

I have no interest to the same extent that I don't care if Iranians want democracy or Saudi's. It's up to the people in those countries to fight for what they want - it's not our obligation to fight for them.

Anyway, I agree with you. It was interesting.

[JustRalph]

Isbets, that you were there and feel a great deal of pride about it is all well and good.

What's bad is that I have no interest in Iraq. Period. You say they want a democracy. Fine. Let them fight for one. The price we have paid and are paying in military personnel and financially is far greater than any possible reward for the U.S. unless we are fighting for their oil fields. But the prez denies that we are.

So when I hear people saying the U.S. is winning in Iraq, I wonder what that means. We are not fighting there because Iraq was/is a threat to the U.S. We are not fighting there because Iraq attacked a U.S. ally.

Maybe you can tell me. What exactly is it that we are winning that justifies the cost to the U.S.?

I don't know, what do you think Saddam was going to do with 500 Metric tons of Yellowcake Uranium? Any ideas?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25546334/

Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq
Last major stockpile from Saddam's nuclear efforts arrives in Canada

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. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.

[NJ Stinks]

Sell it to Canada? :)

Seriously, it's great to hear they found something.

[hcap]

I posted this story a while ago.

"Youse Guys were Right all along"

http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/showthread.php?p=552045#post552045

Waiting to see who would claim the high ground "that bush was right along" WMDs were there! Similar to the junk about WMDs being smuggled to Syria.

The uranium was not weapons grade and WAS WELL known to the UN and IAEA and was being stored LEGALLY by Saddam’s government according to international law.The former Tuwaitha nuclear complex was under the control of international watchdogs. It was never considered WMD, even by the idiotic bush folks. If it was why those famous 16 words? Youse guys remember about the British "have learned That Saddam sought significant quantities of uranium from Afica" crap.

1-If significant quantities of yellowcake qualify as WMDs, why didn't Genius George, whose intel guys were well aware of Tuwaitha, before the war, along with all that yellowcake mention it. After all Saddam could have easily drawn on his own supplies in his backyard-about 12 miles south of Baghdad!

2-The very fact that Tuwaitha existed disproves that even if Saddam had sought yellowcake from Africa-that entire justification was false and indeed was a red herring. To fool the gullible.