Transterrestrial Musings

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The link only generates a 'not found' error for me...

However, while it may be desirable to open a 'dialog' with these two countries (if only to say we honestly tried), any supposed role for them in 'stabilizing' Iraq should not be on the table.

Suggesting that Iran or Syria would do anything we'd consider constructive in Iraq is like asking the Fox for help in setting up henhouse security...

Posted by Frank Glover at November 23, 2006 07:37 AM

David Meredith said he went to Iraq to make money and for patriotic reasons. He never served in the military. Driving trucks is what he said he knows.

"The day that one of my drivers died, I told everybody, I said, 'The last of my innocence died that day,'" Meredith told KMBC's Dan Weinbaum.

Meredith signed up for a year with KBR, the subsidiary of Halliburton, joining hundreds of contractors who were driving tractor-trailers across the Mesopotamian desert to deliver goods and supplies to U.S. troops.

For most of Meredith's time, things were good.

"I felt like I had lived a fool's dream the first 11 months I was there," Meredith said.

Posted by anonymous at November 23, 2006 08:18 AM

Here's a news item that's just as relevant as the one above:

Man in critical condition after shooting
One man was in critical condition Wednesday night after being shot while in a car at Gregory Boulevard and Walrond Avenue.

Kansas City police said multiple shots were fired about 8 p.m., although it was not clear if they came from another vehicle or from someone on foot.

There was no information released on a possible suspect, and no other details were immediately available.

I blame George Bush.

Posted by Jay Manifold at November 23, 2006 08:33 AM

The greates foreign policy disaster in American history only gets worse.

Following Jay, we should not blame Bush for a half-assed attempt to foist democracy in Iraq.

Posted by AnonIraq at November 23, 2006 08:43 AM

Glenn Reynolds wrote this:

Hmm. But will [James] Baker decide we should sell Lebanon to the Syrians in exchange for empty promises on Iraq? That would be the way to bet, I fear, but perhaps I'm wrong. (Thanks to reader Jim Brown for the link).

The Israelis should have gone Okinawa on Hezbollah last summer. Combat engineers and satchel charges.

Some wars just need the infantry.

Posted by Bill White at November 23, 2006 09:07 AM

"The greates foreign policy disaster in American history only gets worse."

I agree. Carter's bungling on Iran nearly 30 years ago will continue to bear its poisoned fruit.

Posted by Mike Puckett at November 23, 2006 09:42 AM

That's brilliant Mike, pin this one on Carter. Carter made Bush send half the troops needed to secure Iraq.

Actually I thought it was Clinton. I guess it really doesn't matter, pick one or the other Dem President. Republicans sure know how how to play the blame game. Actually I should be fair. Not all Republicans, only the many of them who are addled by Talk Radio or an equivalent form of dementia.

Posted by AnonIraq at November 23, 2006 10:10 AM

And from what form of dementia do you get the notion that everyone who disagrees with you, or thinks you a leftist loon, is a Republican?

Posted by Rand Simberg at November 23, 2006 10:33 AM

It's just unfortunate Simberg finds it to inconvenient to
sign up to Remodel Kitchens in Baghdad.
The money is good, the chance to serve the country is
there and the Iraqi's need kitchen remodeling.

However, Rand, will never stop blogging on how we
need to keep fighting in Iraq.

Posted by anonymous at November 23, 2006 11:14 AM

"That's brilliant Mike, pin this one on Carter. Carter made Bush send half the troops needed to secure Iraq"

Did you marry that strawman before you anally raped him?

Where am I 'pining this one' on Carter? Where did I mention Iraq? Do you know Iran and Iraq are actually two different countries? Did that Iran/Iraq war thing make your head hurt?

You mentioned the greatest foreign policy failure in American history which any reasonable, thinking person will see as James Earl Carter allowing the rise of a militant Iran when he had the power to kill it in the womb and the justification to destroy it in the cradle.

To call Iraq the greatest foreign poilcy failure when it isn't even finished yet just demonstrates your lack of reason, lack of rhetorical abilities, lack of historical perspective and total lack of common sense.

You can keep pouring that kool-aid, just don't whine if your smarter betters (and that's just about everyone on this board, left and right) refuse to drink your poison crap.

Posted by Mike Puckett at November 23, 2006 11:26 AM

Thanks Mike, that was very illuminating. Since Iraq isn't finished yet (your words) here's where it's headed:

BAGHDAD, Nov. 23 — In one of the deadliest sectarian assaults since the ouster of Saddam Hussein, explosions from at least three powerful car bombs and a mortar shell tore through teeming intersections in the Shiite district of Sadr City today, killing at least 144 people and wounding 206, the authorities said.

The coordinated bombings followed a two-hour siege by about 30 insurgents early this afternoon against the headquarters of the Shiite-run Health Ministry in northern Baghdad, about a mile west of Sadr City. The gunmen, shooting from nearby buildings and surrounding streets, pelted the ministry with mortar shells and gunfire but fled when Iraqi troops and American military helicopters appeared, officials and witnesses said.

The attacks, coming against targets with strong Shiite identities, seemed intended to stoke sectarian fury and threatened to accelerate the cycle of retributive killings that has pushed Iraq to the brink of all-out civil war.

The car bombs sent thick pillars of smoke into the air, destroyed dozens of vehicles and shop fronts, and scattered charred, bloodied bodies. Rescuers desperately evacuated wounded victims from the bomb sites using cars and wooded carts, as residents and Shiite militiamen flooded the streets of the working-class enclave, waving assault rifles, shouting epithets against Sunni Arabs and the government, and vowing revenge.

“I’m very, very angry because the government did nothing for us,” said Muhammad Ali Muhammad, a 27-year-old laborer in Sadr City. “There’s no protection for us.”

Government security forces, in an effort to prevent a chain reaction of violence, flooded the neighborhoods around the Health Ministry and Sadr City, setting up cordons around both areas. The government imposed an indefinite curfew on the capital, according to Iraqi state television, quoting an Interior Ministry official.

Top government officials held an emergency meeting at the home of the Shiite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, which was also attended by President Jalal Talabani, Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi and the American ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, an aide to Mr. Hakim told The Associated Press.

These various measures suggested that the government was intent on avoiding a repeat of the violent fallout that followed the bombing of a major Shiite shrine in Samarra in late January, which set off waves of sectarian killings and kidnappings that quickly spun out of the control of government security forces.

But in spite of the precautions, Shiite fighters responded to the car bombings, firing 10 mortar rounds at the Abu Hanifa mosque in Adhamiya, one of the holiest Sunni shrines in the capital, the American military command said. The attack killed at least one person and wounded 14, The Associated Press reported.

Posted by AnonIraq at November 23, 2006 12:57 PM

Gee, I see you have cut' n pasted more stuff for us to ignore. I guess if wanted us to read it, you would have just posted a link.

I would think you and others would have figured that we aren't going to waste our time reading your long paste jobs by now. If I want AP posts, I will read them on my google news page.

Posted by Mike Puckett at November 23, 2006 01:27 PM

And if we want continued ad hominem, idiotic "chicken hawk" arguments, we'll go to www.logicalfallaciesandmorons.com.

I wonder if the Anonymous Moron realizes how stupid and vile he comes across as?

Posted by Rand Simberg at November 23, 2006 01:41 PM

The only people making compete idiots of themselves are those who think Iraq is going so great that we need to stay the "undefined" course.

The greatest foreign policy disaster in American history. That's what Iraq is.

Posted by AnonIraq at November 23, 2006 01:46 PM

I may be stupid and vile as Rand says but let me say with all sincerity to Rand, Mike etc who have insulted me so thoroughly today:

Happy Thanksgiving!

We should all be grateful to live in this great country.

Posted by AnonIraq at November 23, 2006 02:02 PM

"The greatest foreign policy disaster in American history. That's what Iraq is."

Because you say so and your hyperbole is never wrong, no matter how much worse a nuclear amred Iran is, Iraq is worse because it was Chimpy McHitlers war and you hate him. BDS at its finest.

Happy Thanksgiving back at you.

Posted by Mike Puckett at November 23, 2006 02:32 PM

Yes, Happy Thanksgiving to you, too Anonymous, despite all of the stupid Chickenhawk "arguments." May you and yours (if you have any) have a good one.

Posted by Rand Simberg at November 23, 2006 06:42 PM

it just seems if Simberg thinks Iraq is so important,
he should be remodeling kitchens in Baghdad, not,
sitting in Florida.

Posted by anonymous at November 23, 2006 09:41 PM

"I wonder if the Anonymous Moron realizes how stupid and vile he comes across as?"

I think it was Mike Puckett who brought up the issue of anal rape.

You run a classy website, Rand.

Posted by Phil Joyce at November 24, 2006 07:47 AM

Anon drivels: Carter made Bush send half the troops needed to secure Iraq.

I'm so glad that you're in the upper echelons of the military and know what it takes. Gee, if we had you for the first Iraq smackdown, we'd have had it done in twenty minutes. Nevermind the fact that if we'd sent twice the troops we did, you'd be complaining about something else.

Posted by Mac at November 24, 2006 09:19 AM

Phil Joyce makes a critical observation.

Simberg likes calling people names, as opposed to engaging
in a civil discussion.

Simberg has got to learn a lot about class

Posted by anonymous at November 24, 2006 02:19 PM

The US doesn't need to engage in dialogue with Syria and Iran, because such dialogue simply provides political cover to nations that are at the heart of destablization in the Middle East.

A good analogy is attempting dialogue with Rand's anonymous troll. Any attempt to rationally discuss a topic about the Middle East degrades into some foolish conversation about building kitchens in Iraq. This is considered by the offender to be "civilized discussion".

For Syria and Iran, they'll claim (like the "chicken-hawk" meme) that the US has no business in Middle East affairs because they are not in the Middle East. The dialogue will be used first to delay action, and then when ready, will be turned into a rallying cry for attacks.

Posted by Leland at November 24, 2006 02:59 PM

"Simberg likes calling people names, as opposed to engaging
in a civil discussion.

Simberg has got to learn a lot about class"

Rand knows the most important lesson about class is to be in the graduating one as he did.

You seem to think its special to be in the LD short bus one. You have no one to blame for that conclusion becaue you are the one who is literally and figuratively 'stuck on stupid'.

If you really wanted a 'civil discussion' instead of being a low-brow troll, you would not keep on harping on the same, tired chickenhawk fallacies ad nauseum......

""I wonder if the Anonymous Moron realizes how stupid and vile he comes across as?"

I think it was Mike Puckett who brought up the issue of anal rape."

When one is so wed to strawman arguments that their entire existance seems to be based on making the same one over and over ad nauseum, I would say that constitutes the figurative anal raping of a strawman. I may have brought it up but at least I wasn't the one commiting the act.

Posted by Mike Puckett at November 24, 2006 03:46 PM

So Mike, what you're saying is that General Eric "something in the order of several hundred thousand soldiers" Shinseki wasn't in the 'upper echelons' at the time prior to invasion?

Posted by at November 24, 2006 09:57 PM

So Mike

Is this the kind of writing that makes your mother proud?

Posted by anonymous at November 24, 2006 10:44 PM

So Mike, what you're saying is that General Eric "something in the order of several hundred thousand soldiers" Shinseki wasn't in the 'upper echelons' at the time prior to invasion?

What does this have to do with this thread? Talk about your non-sequitur, this is sort of two-fer. Not only does Mike make no mention of General Shinseki, but General Shinseki was the Army Chief of Staff, which is not in the US CENTCOM chain of command.

Posted by Leland at November 25, 2006 07:23 AM

"So Mike, what you're saying is that General Eric "something in the order of several hundred thousand soldiers" Shinseki wasn't in the 'upper echelons' at the time prior to invasion?"

Orderly, rush this strawman to the OR STAT! This is the most life threatning case of rectal bleeding I have ever witnessed! He is hemmoraging badly fromm what appears to be the most severe case of over-sodomization by a non-sequitir in history!

"So Mike

Is this the kind of writing that makes your mother proud?"

I don't post here to make my mother proud. If any one posts here to make their mother proud, I seriously question theor world view.

Is your mother proud of your continued criminal acts comitted upon helpless strawmen?

Posted by Mike Puckett at November 25, 2006 10:59 AM

For an excellent discussion of the Neo-Con thought process and its pitfalls please see:

http://www.b elgraviadispatch.com/2006/11/the_neocons_gross_amateurism.html

I think there is a great deal to question how we approach Syria and Iran; it is unclear that a neo-con approach can improve matters, more likely we will see a great broadening of the war with unforeseeable consequences.

Posted by Offside at November 25, 2006 11:55 AM

Mike

I know it makes you feel all clever to accuse people
of being mentally retarded, but for what it's worth
I actually have 2 grad degrees.

So while we are in the resume mode, what's your
resume?

I am gainfully employed earning enough to have to pay
AMT.

Not that how much you make makes you a better person.

Simberg is a reprobate when he's unemployed and when
he has a job.

Posted by anonymous at November 25, 2006 02:04 PM

Oh me? I just work for BiffCo like most people here in Mill Valley that don't work at the Cas_ino. I gradated from Edward Van Halen High School with a degree in major riffage. Funny thing about the internet, I can claim damn near anything and so can everyone else.

On a more serious note:

A Self-appeal to authority fallacy. What will you come up next?

Some of the most retarded people I have met were the highly maleducated. You seem to proudly claim that title thru your rehtorical repeptition and consant commision of logical fallacies. If I were you, I woud take my sheepskin back and demand a refund.

We didn't put you on the rhetorical Short Bus, you willing embarked of your own free will.

Posted by Mike Puckett at November 25, 2006 02:32 PM

I never graduated college.

Posted by William 'Bill' Gates at November 25, 2006 02:44 PM

I mean really, to have two masters degrees and can't even come up with a nom de plume other than 'anonymous'?

Posted by Samuel Clemons at November 25, 2006 02:47 PM

Reports of mispellings of my name are not greatly exxagerated.

Posted by Samuel Clemens at November 25, 2006 02:48 PM

I am gainfully employed earning enough to have to pay AMT.

Non-Sequitur. What does the AMT have to do with Iran and Syria? AMT has less to do about how much you make, but rather how many special tax breaks you are claiming. You can be married with six kids and a single income in the 50's and pay AMT.

I actually have 2 grad degrees.

So what? You still lack the ability to cogitate a rational arguement about Iran and Syria. You also don't understand the purpose of the AMT.

Hamas is now promising 6 months of peace talks. Peace talks usually don't have deadlines. It's simply a delaying tactic. If Hamas, and its surrogate Syria, really wanted peace, they wouldn't be placing sunset provisions on talks. If they are doing that, why should we attempt dialogue with them.

Posted by Leland at November 25, 2006 03:30 PM

Negotiate with Syria and Iran? Guys whether that is a good idea or a bad idea is irrelevant as the horse has already left the barn:

Regional efforts to contain the violence in Iraq gathered pace Tuesday as Baghdad and Syria agreed to restore full diplomatic relations after a 24-year break. The move followed a visit by the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, to Iraq - the first by a Syrian minister since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Moualem pledged cooperation in tackling the growing violence sweeping the country, saying Syria was prepared to work "hand in hand to achieve the security of brother Iraq". He also signed an accord with his Iraqi counterpart, Hoshiyar Zebari, agreeing that U.S. troops should remain in Iraq for the time being. Previously, he had called for a timetable for the withdrawal of 140,000 U.S. troops.

If Maliki negotiates with Syria does it matter what we do? Unless we do a Diem on al-Maliki.

Now Iran:

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=119356&version=1&template_id=46&parent_id=26

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s president flies to Tehran this weekend to seek help halting a descent into civil war but analysts say it may be too late and that in any case there is only so much Iraq’s neighbours can do – even if they want to.
Jalal Talabani’s trip comes after a landmark visit to Iraq by Syria’s foreign minister, and as US President George W Bush, facing anger over Iraq at home, is under pressure from his allies to enlist the help of his arch enemies, Iran and Syria.

Mustafa Alani, Iraqi security analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, said Talabani’s trip smacked of desperation.

If the US refuses to talk to Syria and Iran while Iraqi government coordinates policy with Syria and Iran, where are we heading?

= = =

Jim Webb asserts that Syria is corrupt and can be played (bribed) while Iran is more fundie-Islamic. Therefore, cut a deal with Syria and isolate Iran.

Posted by Bill White at November 25, 2006 05:43 PM

Thanks Bill, we needed to be rescued from the war on this blog. Quite the battle I see. Hilarious too: Mark Twain and Bill Gates talking to each other while Mike eviscerates all and sundry.

Back to Syria and Iran, as you say,

The horse truly has left the barn.

Any port in a storm. Might as well talk to Syria and Iran before they cut thier own deal with our man Maliki.

It's all turned so different from the glorious Axis of Evil days when W so mightily did strut.

Posted by Offside at November 25, 2006 06:29 PM

Bill,

You are putting the cart before the horse. Talabani’s trip was cancelled for the weekend, though he those hope to leave today. His meeting there is to convince Iran to get its hands out of Iraq. Particularly, the Iraqi PM and President want Iran to quit using Iraq as a surrogate battlefield against the US.

Note, while Talabani's the trip was cancelled, Maliki did make time to talk to Bush.

Posted by Leland at November 27, 2006 06:20 AM

Leland

Are you going to personally go over and kick ass on the
Iranians?

Posted by anonymous at November 28, 2006 07:14 PM

Mike

You have a funny fascination with anal sex,
Are you one of those Gay republicans?

Posted by anonymous at November 29, 2006 12:46 PM

I have the fascination? You are the pervert who practices it.

Posted by Mike Puckett at December 2, 2006 09:31 AM

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