Say Anything Blog

They can make up better stuff at home.

TANSTAAFL

There is that.

Plus, going to where the actual fighting is happening means putting yourself in danger.  And our soldiers, who are voluntarily putting themselves in that danger, apparently don’t deserve that kind of effort.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Gee, why is it so hard to get people to go to Iraq? Don’t they read this blog? Don’t they know it’s more dangerous in California?

Gee, why is it so hard to get people to go to Iraq? Don’t they read this blog? Don’t they know it’s more dangerous in California?

Well, the soldiers who are volunteering to fight for their country don’t seem to mind going to Iraq.  It’s just the reporters we’re having a problem with.

Not surprisingly, given that the sum total of the media’s coverage of Iraq amounts to: “There was an attack today.  People died.  When are we leaving?”

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

My guess was eight.

I was pretty close.

The Whistler:

They can make up better stuff at home.

You don’t have to be so harsh.  It’s not like they all interview Democratic leaders to find out what’s going on in Iraq.  (How often do you here Democrats claiming that Iraqis don’t know what’s going on in their own county.)

Many interview Arabs from Egypt and Jordan.  Strangely enough these Arabs also think that Iraqis don’t know what’s going on in their own count!

Maybe this explains why we have heard no reports of combat medals awarded to our soldiers in Iraq.  I’m sure plenty have been awarded, so why the news blackout?  Now we know.  There aren’t enough reporters to cover anything but the negative stuff.

Then there’s this:  http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2004/DA_fall04/Iraq_Prothero_DA_fall04.html

Right, Puzzle.  And that excuses the fact that there’s 9 journalists in Iraq to cover the entire war.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Oh there goes that gosh darn MSM reporting on government reports again.

WASHINGTON (Sept. 24) — A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.

…The report “says that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse,” said one American intelligence official.

Sigh...a leaked intelligence memo selectively quoted by reporters who, of course, won’t be divulging the entire content of the memo to put what they’ve quoted in context.

And these people want a shield law so that they can run these leaks with impunity.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

If I’m not mistaken more reporters have been killed in Iraq than were killed in all of WWII.  I think they’re trying; it’s just a very dangerous environment.

I’d not put too much in a second-hand leak of a classified report, RBB.  As many times as they get the basic facts 180ed, this could easily be a mischaracterization of the report (another classified document whose contents have been selectively leaked by the New York Times).  The reporter did not have first hand knowledge of the report, so this is all second or third hand information.

Since it is well known that many US intelligence officers are at odds with Bush’s position (and have been quietly at war with him since he came to office), I’m not surprised that leaks continue, or that the leaks are spun in the worst possible light.

In any case, this appears to be the gist of the story:

Many of the new cells, the NIE concludes, have no connection to any central structure and arose independently. The members of the cells communicate only among themselves and derive their inspiration, ideology and tactics from the more than 5,000 radical Islamic Web sites.

This was happening in any case.  Whether it is worse or better because of the invasion is arguable.  9/11 spawned many new terrorists for the cause.  Failing to respond to the terrorist threat posed by Saddam would likely have had furthered the cause of world terrorism as well.

Suppose, hypothetically we had never invaded Iraq.  Saddam as you know had a terrorist training camp, Salman Pak , replete with a commercial airplane for training terrorists on hijacking techniques, where terrorists from all over the middle east came to be trained.  Not hearsay, public knowledge. Al Zarqawi was doing more in Iraq than playing golf and eating dates.  He had his own terrorist camp, funded by Saddam, in North Iraq where he was training terrorists.  The Saddam Fedayeen (roughly 50,000 men) were originally established to fight Israel and Western imperialism in the middle east. 

What this report appears to ignore is that Saddam was seeking to replace Afghanistan as the world capital of terrorism.  Hence, had we not invaded, there also would have been consequences for world terrorism.

Finally, because of the success of 9/11, many terrorists were recruited to the cause of Islamofascism.  And terrorists were never a single autonomous organization to start with.  As you probably know, Zarqawi before the Iraq invasion ran his own brand of terrorism and was a major competitor with Osama.  Of course, many of these terrorist splinter groups coalesced due to the strain of the invasion.  No doubt some will interpret this as “making terrorism worse also”.  (For detractors, any change in the structure of terrorist organizations is “making terrorism” worse.  Funny how that works.)

So what we don’t know in summary is the costs of not invading. Things would have gotten worse no matter what happened.  We are being faced with a movement that has been gaining momentum since the early ‘90s, fueled in part by state sponsorship by the Taliban in Afghanistan, by Saddam in Iraq, by Assad in Syria, and so forth.

It’s no surprise that the movement is stronger today than in 2001.  It’s arguable that it’s less strong than it would have been in the absence of an invasion of Iraq.  Acting like the only consequence of the invasion is the fueling of new terrorists (a debatable point in any case), is to neglect the direct threat to terrorism posed by Saddam and the terrorists that he was harboring.

Rob:

Right, Puzzle.  And that excuses the fact that there’s 9 journalists in Iraq to cover the entire war.

There are far more than nine foreign journalists in Iraq.  “Embeds” means journalists embedded with the US armed forces.  Most of the rest are in the green zone, and don’t actually see the real Iraq.  The embeds don’t easier since they mostly ask for units in zones of conflict (typically the American units in the sunni provinces get attacked within 30 minutes of leaving their compounds, that’s hardly a realistic image of an ordinary person’s life in Iraq).

It’s not very safe to be a journalist wandering around Iraq without protection, due to the targeting of them by the insurgents, as Puzzle’s link points out.  Thus there really aren’t any journalists who are getting an accurate assessment of what is happening in Iraq.  Which is the way the insurgents want it.

Since it is well known that many US intelligence officers are at odds with Bush’s position

It is now well know that bush’s positions are at odds with US intelligence.

It is now well know that bush’s positions are at odds with US intelligence.

That’s been known since 2001.

Referring of course to politicly motivated CIA operatives who actively work to undermine the siting US president.

Carrick:
“So what we don’t know in summary is the costs of not invading (Iraq).”

I know one thing: Iran would be still be facing a powerful enemy on her western flank instead of a failed state.

You mean of course, patriotic whistle blowers who see an administration run amok.

gregdn: Iran is now facing a much more powerful enemy on its western flank: us.  Duh.  The Iraq/Iran war was a standoff, remember?  We are much more powerful than Iraq was under Saddam.

Rob,I hope that you got what Carrick wrote about the embedded journalists.  It is “embedded” not the total number of journalists, but as usual you won’t acknowledge your mistake. I’ll wait for your “excuse”.

I know one thing: Iran would be still be facing a powerful enemy on her western flank instead of a failed state.

Iraq in 2002 a “powerful enemy?”

LMAO.

rbb: You mean the traitors who leak classified information out of a lust to regain political power for short term gain at the expense of the good of the country?

You mean of course, patriotic whistle blowers who see an administration run amok.

No, I mean “partisan whistle blowers who perceive an administration running a foreign policy they disagree with”.

That’s a distinction with a difference.

You’re all so cute when you’re on the defensive.

Iraq in 2002 a “powerful enemy?”

That is rich, isn’t it?  I mean, first we have to believe that Iraq was being held “in a box” by UN sanctions and didn’t pose a threat to anyone...now we’re supposed to believe that Iraq was “powerful” and was holding Iran in check.

Which is it?  You can’t have it both ways.

Puzzle:

Rob,I hope that you got what Carrick wrote about the embedded journalists.  It is “embedded” not the total number of journalists, but as usual you won’t acknowledge your mistake. I’ll wait for your “excuse”.

This from the woman who posts teacher union studies about teacher wages and expects us to take them as objective studies.

Perhaps, Puzzle, you should also have read this from Carrick’s comment:

“Embeds” means journalists embedded with the US armed forces.  Most of the rest are in the green zone, and don’t actually see the real Iraq.

Do you really think that having the vast majority of reporters who are covering this war reporting on it, essentially, from their hotel rooms?  Do you really think that reality is bringing us an objective accounting of what’s going on in Iraq?

Because if you do you’re a fool.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

"cute”?

You’re a twisted little man, RBB, and I pity you.

Thank you Carrick, I pity you and your once proud party too.

It is now well know that bush’s positions are at odds with US intelligence.

RBB,

Problem is, thanks to your leftwing dhimmi brethren, “US intelligence” doesn’t have a lot of public credibility any longer.  It’s a little like trying to make the argument that the NYT is an unbiased fountain of truth without any sort of partisan agenda.

rbb: More nonsense from the losing lefties.

RBB:

I pity you and your once proud party too

What party is that?

I’m nonaligned.  If you Democrats ever made any sense, I would look far less partisan.

Do you really think that having the vast majority of reporters who are covering this war reporting on it, essentially, from their hotel rooms?

Gee rob, why do you think they don’t they just go out, walk around and talk to the folks and bring us an objective accounting of what’s going on in Iraq?

Yeah B O, it was the dems who brought us Curveball and Chalabi.

Get a grip.

Gee rob, why do you think they don’t they just go out, walk around and talk to the folks and bring us an objective accounting of what’s going on in Iraq?

Because they’re cowards, and it’s easier to sit in one’s hotel room, order room service, and write stories that amount to “Bombs exploded, people were killed, when are we leaving.”

Just a thought.  But hey, wouldn’t want these guys to get out there and, you know, actually cover the story.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Gee rob, why do you think they don’t they just go out, walk around and talk to the folks and bring us an objective accounting of what’s going on in Iraq?

Because that’s the way the insurgents want it, of course.  The insurgents don’t want objective reporting, they want to control it, and they mostly do.

The story you get from Iraq is heavily spun towards the side of the insurgents.  It is a simple calculus, and if you can’t follow that, you’re just a simpleton.

Rob, given how many journalists have been killed or kidnapped for trying to report truthfully, I wouldn’t call them cowards.

Carrick nails it.  The journalists are too afraid to venture out into the war themselves, but they aren’t afraid to hire local stringers to go out and cover it for them.  Stringers who are, I’m afraid, all too often very sympathetic to the terrorist cause.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Perhaps you have a point Carrick...but I get angry when I think of all our soldiers who are putting their lives on the line for this mission and how the legacy of the war they’re fighting and dying for is being tainted because these journalists won’t go into the field.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Rob: Why should they?  It’s much easier to simply write what they are told to write by their employers.  The MSM is in full-fledged propaganda mode, and it’s not pro-US propaganda.  They are desperately trying to jigger the elections in favor of the Dems.  The MSM’s loyalty to their ideology is greater than their loyalty to their country.

Gee rob, why do you think they don’t they just go out, walk around and talk to the folks and bring us an objective accounting of what’s going on in Iraq?

RBB,

Excuses, excuses, excuses.  Look, the very fact that you are defending these guys does nothing but reinforce the notion that they are left leaning in the first place.

Ever heard of Sgt Hook?  How about Bill Roggio?  Blackfive?  Michael Totten?  There are plenty of REAL sources or REAL information about what is REALLY going on in IRAQ and the rest of the middle east, without relying on the hopelessly compromised “drive-by” media.  And more and more people are aware of it every day.

Which may well be why the LAT is on semi-life support and the New York Times Company’s financials are resembling one of Dr. Hawking’s Black Holes.

Because that’s the way the insurgents want it, of course.  The insurgents don’t want objective reporting, they want to control it, and they mostly do.

Looks like ole C has been trading e-mails terrorist, oops, insurgents, to uncover their deepest thoughts. He and fox’s Great B O (as opposed to Say Anything’s B O) have a pipeline into the minds of our enemy.

I think rob and BO should report the truth from Iraq. They both can write and use computers. I say send in the SA truth squad.

That’s RBB for you.

All smarm and no substance.

You’ll not exactly convince anybody with more intellect than a cockroach with that approach.

Ahh, how familiar.  The liberal realityboob can’t win his argument with the merit of facts, so he resorts to derision and a variation on the tried-and-true chickenhawk meme.

Well done, boob.  You are a fine example of your ilk.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Boy, Rob, you sure do like to change the subject, when someone points out a mistake you threadjack (yes,I know this is your blog and you can do what you want).  Oh, and please feel free to point out the errors in the teacher pay study since you’re the great investigator. 

Oh,yeah all those reporters as just sitting in their hotel rooms,laying by the pool just waiting the for story to come to them.  How many have been kidnapped and killed? Oh yeah but they are the MSM so who cares, you just like to bitch about them criticize their stories and still bitch about them sitting in their hotel rooms.

realitydenyingboob,

I, on the other hand, have no sympathy for you and the other unhinged leftards (which of course now includes the democRATs) who have been a net detriment to the nation’s ability to wage war.  Failure to Lead, Failure to Follow, Failure to Get out of the Way, you and yours are failures in every measure of leadership which matters.

Out Here
Rodney Graves

Out Here
Rodney G. Graves

Ceterum censeo Parthia esse delendam
Latin: “Furthermore, Parthia (Persia aka modern day Iran) should be destroyed.”

Boy, Rob, you sure do like to change the subject, when someone points out a mistake you threadjack (yes,I know this is your blog and you can do what you want).

How did I threadjack?  I made my points.  The war in Iraq isn’t getting covered as it should be.  You’re trying to obfuscate that because the current sort of coverage is convenient for your ideological goals.

Very telling.

Oh, and please feel free to point out the errors in the teacher pay study since you’re the great investigator.

It doesn’t take into account compensation in the form of benefits nor does it calculate cost of living fluctuations among the various states.  Nor does it tie teacher pay to quality of education.  Do we really need to raise teacher pay just because our teachers aren’t making as much as teachers in other states?  If our kids are already getting an adequate education, is a raise necessary?

The unions undoubtedly think so since it would mean more dues for them, but as a taxpayer I can say that it is nonsense.

None of which will convince you, but there it is.  Plain as the nose on your face.

Oh,yeah all those reporters as just sitting in their hotel rooms,laying by the pool just waiting the for story to come to them.

Well I wouldn’t go that far, but they’re certainly not out in the field as much as they should be in order to provide Americans with an accurate portrayal of the war.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

I ask again: Why are there no reports about combat medals awarded to our soldiers in Iraq?  Is it because no medals have been awarded(not bloody likely) or that the MSM has chosen to ignore them?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Glad to see you finally freed up you other hand, rod.
Still working on your weak wanker wads of alliteration, I see.

Better re-grip, the water is swirling and you’ve got nowhere to go but down.
Happy Ramadan, Osamabeard.

Where are the bully right thinking news hounds.
The Hannities, the Humes , the Stossels,
the Krautheimers and Kristols,
the Rushes, the O’Reillies, the Russerts and Novaks?

Is there any reason they are not standing on the streets of Iraq giving the American people the good news gospel truth?

Swift death is the reason.

I think rob and BO should report the truth from Iraq

rbb, that is certainly more than I would ever attribute to you or puz.

Woof: Dishonesty and a leftist agenda are the reasons.
According to the lefties, all of Iraq is one big slaughterhouse, so why can’t the terrorists just kill the reporters that are there?
Answer: Because those reporters are serving the terrorists’ purpose.  Duh.

realitydenyingboob again projects:

Better re-grip, the water is swirling and you’ve got nowhere to go but down.

Indeed, boob, the leftards are indeed in a downward spiral.  We just had a national debate about coercive interrogation.  The democrats were absent (at least they weren’t getting in the way again).

Oh, I don’t celebrate Ramadan nor any other Mohammedean religious holidays.  Unlike you, that is not an act of takiya on my part.

Out Here
Rodney Graves

Out Here
Rodney G. Graves

Ceterum censeo Parthia esse delendam
Latin: “Furthermore, Parthia (Persia aka modern day Iran) should be destroyed.”

So Rob,how would you get those reporters out in the field and make sure they can get back to file all those good news reports?  A few ideas would be helpful instead of you “ordering room service” bullshit.

Ideas?  Let me know when Hume and Hannity make a trip there oh and let’s not forget Limbaugh!  Why don’t they put up or shut up?

RBB, Puzzle, etal read The Third Terrorist and you’ll know why we are in Iraq. I’m reading it right now and had no clue the case for Iraqi involvement in OK bombing and WTC (both times) is so strong, it is pretty much a slam dunk. The third terrorist has 34 psges of source material! Iraqis were involved, that is all that is too it. Hundreds of eye witnesses are not lying. Just when you think the story couldn’t get much worse it does. So do yourself a favor and read it.

Jesse, you read ‘Hubris” and get the real story.  Even Pres. Bush finally admitted that Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11.

Ok I’ll make a deal I’ll read hubris and you read The third terrorist, how about it?

Here are reviews at amazon;

http://www.amazon.com/Third-Terrorist-Connection-Oklahoma-Bombing/dp/0785261036

Even Pres. Bush finally admitted that Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11.

Bush never stated that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11.

You go out and find for me one quote where he said the two were directly connected.

P: Here’s an idea: Get the MSM to start doing its job, both here and abroad.  Stop trying to assign other people who are doing their jobs to do the job of the MSM, because they are already filling in the huge information gaps left by the MSM right here.  You lefties never accept any responsibility for your wrongdoing.

Puzzlefeet gets all confused, Jesse, you read ‘Hubris” and get the real story.

“Hubris”? Is that about the big story of how the Democrats try to put words into Bush’s mouth and then ask him to answer for the words he has never said?

Even Pres. Bush finally admitted that Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11.

He never stated otherwise.

Are these lies and smears all you have? How pathetic.

Here is what wiki has to say about Iraqi involvement in the Murrah bombing;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Huysman/Iraq_and_Al_Qaeda#Oklahoma_City_Bombing

Woah there is a lot on the User:Huysman/Iraq and Al Qaeda page about Iraqi involvement in various terrorist attacks. The beauty of wiki is that if the data is wronf anyone can edit it, so have at it RBB puzzlel etal!!

Hey why did John Kerry refer two seperate times to Flight 800 as a terrorist event??

Jesse: You see, none of this conspiracy stuff matters to the President; it only matters to the Dem hit machine, in that they have a version of reality that needs defending.  The President is doing the right thing, and has been doing the right thing all along.  All the Dem hit machine can do is lie about it and try to make the President defend himself against their lies.  You notice that their BS always gets proven wrong eventually?  They are just after soundbites and jiggered poll numbers.

This is a test.

This is ONLY a test, of the EMERGENCY GRAVATAR SYSTEM.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog posts.

"realitybased"bob had said three days ago, You mean of course, patriotic whistle blowers who see an administration run amok.

No, you goofball. It’s just a partisan game that your party plays with cherrypicked snippets from something that was supposed to be a classified report.

Didn’t we just get done watching the Democrats have a collective orgasm the last year over the Richard Armitage Valerie Plame leak? You only cared about that when you could play the partisan football game by blaming Rove.

It’s hypocrisy your party is practicing here, not some high minded “patriotic whistle blower” nonsense.