Ponderstorm My Brainstorm on Life & Politics

The New York Post reported today that during his July trip to Baghdad, Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama, while “campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq . . . tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.” This report, by Amir Taheri, cites Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari as the source of this accusation.

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July.

In discussing Obama’s position, Taheri writes:

Though Obama claims the US presence is “illegal,” he suddenly remembered that Americans troops were in Iraq within the legal framework of a UN mandate. His advice was that, rather than reach an accord with the “weakened Bush administration,” Iraq should seek an extension of the UN mandate.

Such an extension is due in December of 2008 and is likely to be granted anyway according to Taheri. Taheri also writes that Obama tried to persuade U.S. commanders including Gen. David Petraeus to suggest a “realistic withdrawal date.” Taheri explains that a delay in negotiating a troop agreement would be significant given the U.S. and Iraqi election timelines that would have to be taken into consideration.

Towards the end of his report, Taheri writes:

Obama has given Iraqis the impression that he doesn’t want Iraq to appear anything like a success, let alone a victory, for America. The reason? He fears that the perception of US victory there might revive the Bush Doctrine of “pre-emptive” war - that is, removing a threat before it strikes at America.

Despite some usual equivocations on the subject, Obama rejects pre-emption as a legitimate form of self-defense. To be credible, his foreign-policy philosophy requires Iraq to be seen as a failure, a disaster, a quagmire, a pig with lipstick or any of the other apocalyptic adjectives used by the American defeat industry in the past five years.

Obama’s consistant anti-war stance has made Read More…

Posted under Barack Obama, Iraq, War

It’s time the Western world wakes up and recognizes that we are now fighting World War III. The sad truth, though, is many who should be allies are sitting on the sidelines while the axis of evil feverishly gets stronger by building weapons that could truly disrupt our lives and kill millions within seconds.

Since many barely have a clue about what’s going on, I’ll spell it out plainly. World War III is between the West (and I include Israel in this classification) and Radical Islam. The opening shots were fired in the 1970s and barely anyone noticed. Over the next decades other battles were fought and the West essentially gave ground each time. We saw the fall of Read More…

Posted under Israel, Radical Islam, War

It seems that Americans are very impatient when it comes to anything. Take Iraq for example. We expect the Iraqi people to quickly develop a representative government even thought they have no history of ever experiencing such. Let’s take a few moments and think about this in terms of our own government history.

On July 4, 1776 the American people declared their independence from the British Empire. Our first governing document, the Articles of Confederation was not fully ratified for almost 5 years until March 1, 1781. Like Iraq, we had years of war during this time.
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Posted under History, Iraq

Many Democrats, while stating that we have lost the War in Iraq and should leave now, are asking Republican supporters to define what victory means. This question is often asked to counter the accusation that they (the Democrats) do not support our troops and are on a path of retreat.

So with that in mind, I offer the following definition of victory in Iraq. But before stating my definition of victory, I wish to lay out a few points that leads me to arrive at this definition. Read More…

Posted under Foreign Policy, Iraq, Radical Islam, War

I’ve been very frustrated with recent developments on the domestic and foreign policy scene involving the Democratic leadership in Congress who is seeking to micro-manage the War and weaken the President. Their actions give reason for our enemies to hope for another day to fight. I am also concerned about the weak responses of some of our allies and the inactions of those who should be our allies.

At the risk of being simplistic, I think some guiding principles should emerge to help navigate our nation through these trying times. It is my firm belief that historians will one day point out that the winner of the Long War Against Radical Islam was the side who had the most patience, vision and tenacity — essentially the nation(s) willing to do what it took to wear the other side down.

So, as a work in progress, I propose some basic thoughts or principles to guide our nation’s actions and responses in winning this War: Read More…

Posted under Foreign Policy, Israel, Radical Islam, War