Missed OpportunityI caught the tail end of what I assume was some kind pf press conference or a Q & A session with Mike Huckabee. He was commenting on the flap with the Iranian boats & three of our ships in the Straight of Hormuz. Instead of turning this into a positive angle for the US, Huckabee decided to take the low road. He reached into his official rhetorical BS bag & pulled out some jingoism, sabre rattling & threats. As I said, I didn't see the whole thing so I don't know what else he might have said. But consider this. We already have a president with a shoot first, think about it later (if at all) mentality who is frothing at the mouth, just looking for any excuse, not necessarily a reason, as is his track record, to start a third military action. Yeah, we & our military really have a need for that. We have incredibly bad relations with countries in the Middle East & a boatload of countries that not only despise us but are scared to death of not only the current administration, but a number of potential people looking for his job. Huckabee could have taken the high road & killed two birds with one stone. He could have eased some tensions with Iran & some other countries & in the process maybe gained some potential voters by saying something like this: I think a thanks & vote of confidence is owed to whoever was in command at the time & gave the order to wait & see, on alert at general quarters, instead of blowing those boats out of the water. To Iran, I say that we could have easily destroyed those boats & probably any of your ships in the area. We know it. You know it. But we didn't. Instead, that commander took a course of prudent waiting but still was capable of defending our sailors. With a statement like that he could have accomplished not only what I have stated above, but show to our people & the Iranian people that we are not all war crazed aggresors. He could have done that & accomplished some really positive results. To bad he missed such a golden opportunity. Obviously, the thinking processes & intellectual acuity is well above & beyond some people. Thankfully, it is well within the reach of some as the results now show. We definitely don't need another president whose business card says, "Have gun, will travel. No thinking required." JATFUR. RichK
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Submitted by SoloVoce on Fri, 01/11/2008 - 1:43pm.
CCC, Sorry. My bad. I wasn't clear enough on this one. I should have said that that is the way they, & some others view us. This is especially important after the rounds of rhetoric we've been hearing coming from Iran. In one aspect, if I were an Iranian being told to consider how we handled Iraq & Bush's rhetoric in past months @ Iran & the fact that there are so many people in America who not only disagree with Bush's Iraq policy & his stand on Iran, I'd be a bit worried also. I'm glad I'm here, not there. On Clinton-Darn, I didn't know he had it in him. What was he talking @ when he said that? By the by. As I said, I only saw the last few seconds of Huckabee's speech. I did some searching in the news files & his quote was, "Be prepared, first to put your sights on the American vessel. And then be prepared that the next thing you see will be the gates of hell, because that is exactly what you will see after that." Apparently, he missed Diplomacy 101 & Thinking 101 the day they were taught. As I said, lost one golden opportunity. JATFUR. RichK
Submitted by smunsey on Mon, 01/14/2008 - 7:03pm.
The Iranian Regime would like nothing less then world domination. They would like nothing less then to decapitate you. Thompson said it best "One more step and they would have found them virgins they were looking for". We do not negotiate with terrorist and Iran is a terror state. Diplomacy has been out the window a long time for Iran. They had their chance but they chose to call down the thunder. I cannot support diplomacy when it comes to Iran, they only understand and respond to one thing and that is force. The clock is ticking for them, its just a matter of time before the final conflict......it wont matter who's in office Dem or Rep...... Tic, Tic, Tic....... Fred08.com Steven P Munsey A+, MCP, IASO Orange Park | Green Cove Springs munsey13@comcast.net
Submitted by finder on Tue, 01/15/2008 - 12:54pm.
I agree with you about Iran (or at least the religious leaders of Iran) wanting world domination. The problem I have with the boat thing is; there are plenty of factions that would love to see us go to war with Iran. They are really good at playing 'Lets you and him fight'. Steve, we really don't want to do that. I don't think you understand how big a mistake that would be. If you really think we can handle Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran all while trying to placate the rest of the Islamic world to keep them off our back, you are very naive. I don't think you or most of the US public have any idea of how badly we are over extended just trying to fight two countries. Please, stop and think about what this would mean to this country. If we go there and really want to win, it will mean all out, bomb and kill anything that moves. This country and the world are not ready and willing to accept that. If we don't do it that way we will be there for more years than I care to think about. In addition, I hope the National Guard is really ready to guard the Nation because we are going to have more terrorist attacks right here in this country than the world has ever seen. The problem with the National Guard is that they are already deployed to fight two countries. Where the heck are we going to get qualified people to fill those positions? This is not the WWI and WWII world. It just doesn't work that way anymore. The world will not tolerate an all out, obliterate everything, kill them until they surrender and rebuild it afterward type of war. The American public will not tolerate it. And I'm not so sure that is a bad thing. There are just too many unaccounted for old Soviet nukes out there. If we were to push them into a corner where they felt that they could not get out, I'm afraid that we would be the recipient of one or more of them on our shores. Then the crap would really hit the fan. Fred (or anyone else) can spout BS all he wants. The bottom line is he is not going to be the one that has to go there to fight. They will never be in a position to say that their job is to stop a bullet. We have lost way too many young men and women already because the idiots in DC that got us there know they can’t say just do it and get it over with. Unless you are ready to put on a uniform and lay your life on the line, or to sacrifice your own sons and daughters, don't be so ready to send someone else's to their death. That’s what you’re advocating with your lighthearted comments. I'm not sure I understood your comment about the final conflict. Could you elaborate please? Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity. MikeH People are talking about ...Here are the recent blog postings with the most comments. |
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Solo - You knew I couldn't ignore this one.
First - what is with your "show to ... Iranian people that we are not all war crazed aggressors" line? You been drinking from the Rosie ODonnel water fountain? War crazed agressors kill millions and burn the corpses in incinerators, mutilate for "science", and annihiliate entire villages who might oppose your golden palaces. I actually thought more of your objectivity than to call this country "war crazed agressors." Guess I was wrong.
Second - check out a quote from the other side of the aisle. I can hear her sabre rattling when I read it, or is that her purse while she is reaching for a hankie?
Clinton - "Every nation has to either be with us, or against us. Those who harbor terrorists, or who finance them, are going to pay a price." Whoooo - kind of tough talk huh, kind of war crazed maybe?