James Marshall is on cspan/WJ right now supporting Bush basically

[shadowknows69]

WTF?? Praising the speech.

[shadowknows69]

1. Anyone else watching this?

Armed services commitee is laying down apparently.

[ellisonz]

18. Nope. Marshall is in an empty room w/Lieberman.

Chairman Ike Skelton of Missouri: "They tried that and it didn't do any good when there was not as much sectarian violence," Skelton said in a brief interview. "If it didn't work then, why should it work now? That's not going to cut the mustard."

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070110/NEWS06/701100400

“Let’s not put any more spotlight on this decision than on those in the past,” he said, talking about what he views as serious mistakes — such as not having enough troops after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled, firing all Saddam supporters from the government, and releasing the entire Iraqi military.

Instead of increasing troop levels, Skelton said he would like the administration to try something new, like beginning to withdraw small numbers of U.S. combat troops just to show the Iraqi government that someday it will have to get by without them.

Skelton said he does not want to be a defeatist, and is not advocating a withdrawal of U.S. forces under any circumstances. “We don’t know when and if this could end in the Middle East, and that is why I am concerned we have a positive outcome in Iraq,” Skelton said.

http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2468978.php

Not perfect but not bad. Maybe he can talk some sense into Marshall.

[notadmblnd]

2. I don't know anything about this guy

is he another republican that ran as a Democrat and won?

[shadowknows69]

3. I don't know but he seems to be falling in lock step now

being critical but "hoping Bush's plan succeeds"

[annabanana]

4. Are you sure it's not William Marshall?

google PPI

[ellisonz]

5. It's James Marshall of Georgia.

[leftchick]

7. Rep. James Marshall (D) Georgia

on the armed services committee.

[xultar]

19. There's some crazy fuckers down here. There must be somethin in the water.

[leftchick]

6. who knew we had so many warmongering Dems?

they really are coming out of the woodwork now. :(

[shadowknows69]

9. active soldier calling right now saying WOT is bogus

holy shit

[shadowknows69]

10. and marshall is thanking him for his service but calling him a liar basically

n/t

[leftchick]

11. yeah he treated him like shit

what a piece of crap Marshall is for that.

[shadowknows69]

14. That's what the troops that I talk to sound like

they know they're in a quagmire.

[ellisonz]

28. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

“And who are the young men we are asking to go into action against such solid odds. You’ve met them. You know. They are the best we have. But they are not McNamara’s sons, or Bundy’s. I doubt they’re yours. And they know they’re at the end of the pipeline. That no one cares. They Know” -- (an anonymous general to correspondent Arthur Hadley).

[leftchick]

30. do they know it is all about the OIL and "reconstruction"?

The MIC and their cohorts are making a killing...


Why the US Is Not Leaving Iraq
By: Ismael Hossein-zadeh

http://www.payvand.com/news/07/jan/1109.html


<snip>

Not only does the new form of imperial or colonial aggression, driven largely by the powerful interests that are vested in the armaments industries and other war-based businesses, bring calamity to the vanquished, but it is also detrimental and burdensome to the victor, namely, the imperium and its citizens. Contrary to the external military operations of past empires, which usually brought benefits not only to the imperial ruling classes but also (through “trickle-down” effects) to their citizens, U.S. military expeditions and operations of late are not justifiable even on the grounds of national economic gains.


<snip>

War profiteering is, of course, not new; it has always existed in the course of the history of warfare. What makes war profiteering in the context of the recent US wars of choice unique and extremely dangerous to world peace and stability, however, is the fact that it has become a major driving force behind war and militarism.


This is key to an understanding of why the US ruling elite is reluctant to pull US troops out of Iraq. The reluctance or “difficulty” of leaving Iraq stems not so much from pulling 140,000 troops out of that country as it is from pulling out more than 100,000 contractors. As Josh Mitteldorf of the University of Arizona recently put it, “There are a lot of contractors making a fortune and we don’t want that money tap turned off, even though it is borrowed money, which our children and grandchildren will have to repay.”<13>


It follows that US troops will not be withdrawn from Iraq as long as antiwar voices are not raised beyond the premises and parameters of the official narrative or justification of the war: terrorism, democracy, civil war, stability, human rights, and the like. Antiwar forces need to extricate themselves from the largely diversionary and constraining debate over these secondary issues, and raise public consciousness of the scandalous economic interests that drive the war.


It is crucially important that public attention is shifted away from the confining official narrative of the war, parroted by the corporate media and political pundits, to the economic crimes that have been committed because of this war, both in Iraq and here in the United States. It is time to make a moral case for restoring Iraqi oil and other assets to the Iraqis. It is also time to make a moral case against the war profiteers’ plundering of our treasury, or tax dollars. To paraphrase the late General Smedley D. Butler, most wars could easily be ended—they might not even be started—if profits are taken out of them.<14>

[ellisonz]

8. LOL! He can't even pronounce Islam correctly.

:eyes:

[shadowknows69]

12. The resources war has been sold to both sides of the aisle

all about that fucking oil. Our leaders have sold our souls for oil.

[Skittles]

16. ?

how did he mispronounce it? :o

[ellisonz]

20. IslAm, twice.

Instead of Izlaam or Islaam.

[Skittles]

22. gawd

that's pretty bad

[ellisonz]

24. Yeah...

You'd have thought he'd figured it out by now. But at least he said "I get too many silly letters saying IslAm is the problem, it's not."

[Roxy66]

13. Why the F*CK is this man on the Armed services committee! He's a DEM!!!

[shadowknows69]

15. Because he likes war apparently

n/t

[shadowknows69]

17. No opposition from Senator Menedez apparently

did they go around with the brainwashing drugs while everyone was asleep?

[ellisonz]

27. Umm...

Menendez sounds pretty against it now, I don't know how he voted in the House, but you can check if you like.

"I believe the Executive Branch is heading in the wrong direction...in terms of national security." Or pretty much as such. He wants deadlines and redeployment.

[ellisonz]

21. Seniority.

It's very hard to take away committee assignments from people who aren't in ethics scandals, and even that is perilous. Sad, but true.

[southern_belle]

23. Almost everyone calling in

on C-Span this morning were FOR the "surge." WTF??? Must be the only people in the country FOR Bush who was awake this morning...all 20 (or so) of them? :shrug:

[shadowknows69]

25. not for lack of trying

I've been hitting redial for an hour now.

[southern_belle]

26. I hear ya!

:patriot:

[ellisonz]

29. Kucinich is on!