By trying to improve her macho image Hillary reminds us of how she held water for “W” and Cheney in the run up to the idiotic war of choice that put the Middle East right where it is today.
8 Likes
I have somewhat more delicate sensibilities than I should, but replacing one letter with an asterisk doesn’t exactly do… well, it does shit-all for my delicate sensibilities, pardon the language.
In hindsight, I believe the president made the correct decision 100%, and that should be plain to anyone who’s looking and trying to see. At the time, I was more conflicted.
5 Likes
I love the interview. Perfect Mr.President
2 Likes
I dislike her more every day
2 Likes
The American belief that every conflict has “good guys” and “bad guys” is so naive it is almost touching. The “good guys” in Afghanistan morfed into Al Qaida. This type of thing has happened over and over again in our history, and yet some Americans continue to cling to the idea that if we can just identify and support the “moderates”, everything will be fine.
11 Likes
It’s why our media is a fucking (oh, sorry, f*cking) joke. The substance doesn’t matter when there’s frivolities to chase.
It’s like these jackasses on the Internet who are fine with people arguing FOR genocide. As long as you don’t use bad words while doing so.
But the “reporters” on TPM are supposed to be reporters. But they’re actually “reporters”.
4 Likes
She was a very good Secretary of State, and I think she is well-suited to those kinds of positions. She is an able administrator and diplomat, but her policies aren’t the kinds of policies I want to see executed.
2 Likes
Considering they are now arming themselves with equipment taken from the Iraqi army, I would agree. Picking up the weapons of defeated foes in how rebels have been arming themselves for centuries.
Supporting any given rebel faction in Syria, and trying to prevent the arms from ending up with the rest of them would have meant basically engaging in a mini war among the various rebel factions to ensure that “ours” stayed on top. An incredible amount of micromanaging of shifting political groups that our understanding of is highly questionable.
And that approach would have most likely have resulted in Assad making more gains while the intra rebel fighting waged.
And then we have the problem of shifting loyalties within the rebel factions. So even if we did help one faction, there is no guarantee that they stay “good guys” once they emerged as the primary faction.
Now, add to all of that, that every single misstep would result in months of the GOP screaming for Obama’s head, how exactly someone can think providing support was a simple and good idea is beyond me.
9 Likes
Yeah. ISIS would have been a big name earlier but I dont think they will ever be in charge for the longterm. I was referring to the fact that the psychos who are now ISIS/ISIL, were stealing other rebel group arms back when there was a debate about providing assistance to moderate rebels in Syria. That was around the time Maverick McCain took a moonlight trip there. They just seized a Syrian army base yesterday. Imagine them with Hellfires or SAMs to use on Iraqi troops or US air power.
ISIS won’t end up in charge of anything down the road. They’re Al Qaeda on crack. Everyone hates them. Bashir got a huge gift by virtue of their existence. France just gave Lebanon weapons to fight ISIS with the UN’s blessing. And now we’re bombing them.
There were (are?) some decent groups in Syria to get with but they are not as ruthless, large or effective as ISIS. I’m surprised this article doesn’t reference them since it would make Hillary and these other pols sound like morons.
3 Likes
Hillary Clinton is playing this horseshit game.
I would LOVE for her to explain how you could have armed the rebels, without those weapons falling into ISIL’s hands.
7 Likes
Even if we could have found “moderates” to arm in Syria. So bleeping what!?
The Saudis, Qatar, and the Turks still would have backed the rise of ISIL.
The foster parents of Isis and the other Sunni jihadi movements in Iraq and Syria are Saudi Arabia, the Gulf monarchies and Turkey. This doesn’t mean the jihadis didn’t have strong indigenous roots, but their rise was crucially supported by outside Sunni powers. The Saudi and Qatari aid was primarily financial, usually through private donations, which Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, says were central to the Isis takeover of Sunni provinces in northern Iraq: ‘Such things do not happen spontaneously.’
4 Likes
Amazin how these tales of the black fellah presdent’s culliful langidge showin owtta control tempah tantrums we nevah see, an all round genal uppityness, all tends ta git rapoted as unconfoamed, an allus involvin some outraged suthin gennamin congressional reppazennatif from this or that proud suthin state of the foama Confederacy. It appeahs that with Congressman Cantor of Virginia already movin on to his rewohd pickin out furnishins in K Street, it’s fallen to brave suthin gennamin Senator Corker of the grate suthin state of Tennessee to pick up the flag.
8 Likes
We’ve been honing this act for centuries, as dutiful successors to the legacy of the British Empire. This current fellah in the White House, he just doesn’t have the, uh, proper context and feel for all that historical import of which our “traditional” politicians, steeped in our nation’s proud history and suckled on magnolia, naturally have more.
2 Likes
She worked well in that role - under direction and guidance. But generally, with notable exceptions (one fairly recent), the role of president tends to involve actually being responsible for the doing of the directorating and guiderating. Her continuing record of episodes of misstepping into the horsesh*t on her own doesn’t engender confidence
3 Likes
Ohmygawd!ohmygawd!!! Fetch me muh smellin’ salts and pull my favorite faintin’ couch over here! That darkie was havin’ a full-on chimp-out!
Just goes to show how unfit for office “those people” are.
Side note: Any time a Democrat starts advocating policies that Grumpie McPalin is leaking out of his Depends, that’s a sign of their unfitness for office. As much as I lean toward Hillary (and I supported her over Obama in 2007/2008) … I am so very happy she lost to President Obama. I’m hoping more and more these days that she doesn’t run and that we can get someone else who’s more of an Obama protégé and less of a Cheney Administration Part II.
8 Likes
Gather up the former Sunni tribees that were marginalized by the Baathists, add in the relatives of those targetted and killed off in the tens of thousands during The Surge, add in further the professional militia under Saddam displaced by Rummy and Wolfie, put 'em all under a new brand that reeks of jihad, yeah, they’re bound to have some success for a while. But only using terror and overwhelming force on isolated marginalized peoples on or outside the fringes of sponsorship by the US or Iran is just civil war.
1 Like
Instead of the media interpreting what Hillary thinks, they ought to just straight out ask her. The ‘horseshit’ way that they take parts of speeches and imply all manner of devious thoughts then throw it out at us is a failure of our dead media, not Hillary and not Obama.
We are very lucky to have Barack at this point in history. The neo-cons only needed one more administration to bring on the world’s end, Bush’s fantasy IOW.
If we ever get someone so level headed, practical, realistic and just plain right again, we’ll be even luckier. Filling Barack’s vacuum will prove to be tough also.
How does any Democrat improve on no new wars, dead Bin Laden and the move back towards diplomacy? They just keep it up, that’s how.
7 Likes
" ‘The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad—there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle—the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled,’ she [Clinton] said."
Ms. Clinton, please stop giving me more reasons not to vote for you, or I won’t. No horseshit. As you’re passing out all this lethality, I sincerely doubt you could reliably tell the difference between Islamists, secularlists, jihadists, or anyone in the middle.
5 Likes
OK Hillary, explain please the difference between “Islamists” and “Jihadists” and how you keep weapons going to one and not the other.
I’m waiting.
5 Likes
Moreover, it strains credulity to think we could have identified any group to arm in Syria that we were confident was on “our side,” whatever that is.
2 Likes