Posts Tagged ‘Iraq’
September 7th, 2010 by John Feehery
“April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.” – T.S. Eliot–The Wasteland
Had T.S. Elliot just witnessed the August endured by the Obama Administration, he might have changed his opinion of the cruelest month. Because, politically, for Democrats, this August has been nothing, but a wasteland.
From the moment Michelle Obama set foot in Spain, to the moment her husband decided to wade into the New York City mosque mess, it has been nothing, but bad news for Congressional Democrats.
As the President’s popularity ratings have sunk, so have the fortunes of his close allies in Capitol Hill. According to Gallup, Republicans now enjoy the biggest advantage to the following question in the history of the poll: “Will you vote for the Republican candidate or the Democratic candidate this coming November?”
And in race after race, the polling is not getting any better for the Democrats. It was widely reported that Democratic operatives have already thrown in the towel on the House, and are now turning their attention to saving the Senate majority, a concern that was deemed unthinkable only four months ago. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, election, George W Bush, Government, health care, Iraq, McCain, November elections, Presidential election, Republicans, White House
Posted in Economy, Government, Politics, Theory, election, health care, war | No Comments »
August 31st, 2010 by John Feehery
Photo via the NY Times
The President said he wanted to turn the page on Iraq.
I wonder how that makes the Iraqis feel. My guess is that they are saying, “wait, this chapter isn’t done yet!” About the only Iraqi who wants us out is that Sadr character, who is just looking for a way to grab power for himself.
It was nice that Mr. Obama called former President Bush today, and that he mentioned that conversation in his speech tonight. I wonder if the current President acknowledged that the former President was right when it came to the surge. I doubt it.
Mr. Obama has been pretty consistent that he didn’t like the Iraq War and that he wanted to spend the money that we spent in Iraq on bigger government to “help the middle class.” The irony is that most middle class voters are clamoring for smaller government, lower taxes, and less meddling from the Feds, not for more help from Mr. Obama.
Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, George W Bush, Iran, Iraq, Oval office
Posted in Bad Decisions, war | No Comments »
August 19th, 2010 by John Feehery
US Soldiers in Iraq
I was talking to my good friend Alex Mistri, a man who spent a year working for the military and the State Department in Iraq, and I asked him what he thought about departure of combat troops from that beleaguered country.
He told me he was deeply ambivalent. He wished that the president had a just a little more patience to give the Iraqis a chance to get their coalition government together. On the one hand, he was happy to see that our policies over there have worked and that many of our troops are coming home knowing that they did a good job. On the other hand, he is deeply apprehensive that the cake isn’t ready yet, and by leaving, we give extremists a chance to destabilize the country.
I share Alex’s deep ambivalence. I share Alex’s pride in the job our combat troops did in battling terrorists and stabilizing large sections of a country that has been in constant turmoil for almost a decade. But this thing is not over, and I hope that the president didn’t rush this for political reasons. Read more...
Tags: Alex mistri, Barack Obama, Democrats, Economy, George W Bush, Iraq, Republicans, war
Posted in Politics, Theory, war | No Comments »
April 27th, 2010 by John Feehery
I turned on Fox News and watched Laura Ingraham interviewing a State Senator from Illinois. The State Senator wants to call out the National Guard to patrol the streets of Chicago, which has been enduring a running gun fight for months now in the city’s toughest neighborhoods. Laura asked a simple question: Why can’t the cops handle it? The answer: They are out-gunned and out-manned.
In Arizona, the news lately has been focused on the new law, aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants. Lost in the spotlight has been the plaintive cry for help from those who live near the border: Call out the national guard and help us patrol our streets. Our police force is outgunned and outmanned.
In Afghanistan, the National Guard is only part of the elements that are in theater, fighting the Taliban. But as they fight the Taliban, they are also fighting those who make a lot of money from heroin production.
In Washington, the Attorney General says that he won’t prosecute those who use marijuana. The President says little about the carnage in his home town of Chicago, and blames the people of Arizona for passing a tough law that he calls “misguided.” Read more...
Tags: Arizona, Attorney General, Chicago, George Bush, illegal immigrants, Iraq, marijuana, National Guard, police, prohibition, war on drugs
Posted in Drugs in America, Immigration, Laws, Politics, Theory, national security, war | No Comments »
March 8th, 2010 by John Feehery
It wasn’t as exciting as the first time that Iraq held democratic elections, but it was probably more significant.
I asked my friend Alex Mistri, who spent a year in Iraq working at the highest levels of the American government, what these elections mean to him.
He told me two things.
First, Iraq is slowly but surely becoming a model of democracy in the Middle East.
Second, that having Iraq become a model of democracy is actually a threat to the Iranians, even if the Iranians have some influence on some of the political parties today.
As Alex puts it: “The road ahead in Iraq no doubt remains uncertain. But the Iraqis have once again demonstrated – not through word but action – their appetite for representative government. Increasingly, it must enter the international consciousness – if it hasn’t already – that Iraq is becoming the most democratic nation in the region.”
As it turns out, President Bush might have been on to something with his crazy belief that a place like Iraq could handle democracy. Alex asked the question, “Might the ‘quixotic’ aims of the previous administration still be within reach?” Read more...
Tags: Alex mistri, democracy, George W Bush, Iran, Iraq, middle-east, Persian, Saudi Arabia
Posted in Foreign Relations, Government, Politics, election | 3 Comments »
August 2nd, 2008 by John Feehery
Barack Obama thinks we should quit in Iraq and bring all of our troops to Afghanistan. He thinks he was still right on the surge despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He thinks the most important theater on the war on terror is in Afghanistan.
John McCain thinks we should finish the job in Iraq. He believes that we shouldn’t divert necessary resources from Iraq. He believes that the surge has worked exactly as he thought it would.
Most Democrats are following the Obama line. In their view, Afghanistan is the good war, Iraq is the bad war. Many of our allies, including the Germans and British, basically agree with that assessment. Sending troops to Afghanistan is good. Sending troops to Iraq was bad.
Here are some reasons why that assessment is wrong.
1) Iraq is worth it. Afghanistan is not. Iraq is an advanced society with a very developed civilization. They have a burgeoning market economy. Certain parts of Iraq are already flush with cash, especially in Kurdistan. Afghanistan is barely past the Bronze Age. They are a tribal society made up of criminal gangs. Where the Iraqis have oil and lots of it, the chief export of Afghanistan is heroin. Read more...
Tags: afghanistan, Iraq, Obama, war
Posted in Government, Theory, national security | No Comments »
July 9th, 2008 by John Feehery
My dad used to work in the oil business. Oil put me through college, so I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the business.
With gas prices being what they are right now, the oil industry is under a great deal of scrutiny.
They are making about the same percentage of profits as they always have, but because prices are so high, they are making more money.
Democrats in Congress love to bash the oil companies. But that message hasn’t really worked politically because it has done nothing to bring down prices.
The Democrats tried to turn their attention to the oil speculators, but they discovered that many of these so-called “speculators” are pension funds owned by everyday Americans. Dry hole.
And now, they are coming to the grim conclusion that they might have to change their long-held position and support more domestic oil exploration here in America.
Against this backdrop comes good news about the oil industry’s efforts to get more oil production from Iraq.
Read more...
Tags: Iraq, Neil King, oil, Wall Street Journal
Posted in Government, Theory, national security | No Comments »
June 20th, 2008 by John Feehery
The House Democrats folded twice this week in the face of an aggressive White House and a determined Republican minority.
Bowing to reality, they cut a deal to continue funding the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. While their left wing might not like it, our troops really needed the money. My sources tell me that without this legislation, some of our soldiers weren’t going to get paid next month. Yes, it was getting that bad.
They also crumbled on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, legislation that allows the feds to listen in on Osama Bin Laden’s phone calls should he decide to call anybody here in the United States. It also gave the telephone companies some liability protection should the feds make a mistake and listen to the wrong conversation. Should be a no-brainer, but for the Democrats, giving any liability protection is a hard sell. They love the trial lawyers too much for that.
FISA should have gotten done months ago. The Senate was ready to move on it and Jay Rockefeller, the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was very critical of his House colleagues for not moving it. Read more...
Tags: Congress, FISA, Iraq, Russian roulette
Posted in Government, Politics, Theory, national security | No Comments »
June 6th, 2008 by John Feehery
Ignorance Is Not Bliss
I was talking to a high-ranking Republican Senate aide last night and he was telling me about his latest trip to Iraq. He talked about the Iranian missiles that were a constant threat to the Green Zone, the fact that Baghdad was still a very dangerous place, and the wisps of hope about the future, how oil revenues are starting to pile up, how Iraq actually has a budget surplus, and how the institutions of government are starting to churn slowly.
I asked him who went on the trip and he told me it was a group of Republican staffers like himself. I asked him why Democratic staffers didn’t go, and he told me that they were invited but that they all declined.
He then told me about a briefing where high level Pentagon officials came to the Capitol to brief Senators and their staffs. Again, the Democrats were invited and again they didn’t show.
Apparently, these staff are taking their cues from Senator Obama, who hasn’t been to Iraq in years, and who has only reluctantly conceded that visiting there might be useful. Read more...
Tags: Iraq, Obama, Senate, war
Posted in Theory | 3 Comments »
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