Vets On The Hill Liveblogging
Hello all! This is going to be a great week for the military. General Petraeus is scheduled to brief Congress on the conflict in Iraq and I will be among 400 veterans heading to Congress to tell our story during Vets On The Hill. The purpose is twofold: convince Congress to give General Petraeus an objective listen and to tell our stories about the good Soldiers are doing in theater.
A few weeks ago, Iraq Veterans Against War went to DC to try and convince our elected officials that we’re all violent criminals without any real training and in over our heads. Amazingly, hardly anyone had any firsthand knowledge of anything they testified about.
Congressional leaders are already trying to undermine General Petraeus before he even gets to utter a single word. A noble and honorable General of the United States military is being sacrificed on the alter of political expediency by people who have no idea of what life on the ground is really like. I hear over and over from my friends who have returned to Iraq what a completely different country it is than when we were there the first time. I’m fed up with the notion that bad news equals honesty about Iraq, but good news equals politicism and shouldn’t be believed.
Among other recent successes:
•Iraqi forces succeeded in retaking the strategically vital port of Umm Qasr, which had been controlled by militia loyal to the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
•Thousands of tribesmen in the southern city of Basra have volunteered to join Iraqi security forces since al-Sadr agreed to a cease-fire on Sunday.
•The U.S. Embassy plans to send reconstruction teams to southern cities such as Najaf and Karbala where militias have long been powerful.
Anyway, it’s a short, two-day trip but I’ll be posting photos and commentary from the event. Stay tuned.
Ambassador Ryan Crocker also cited recent political progress on “benchmark” legislation, including a law setting provincial elections for the fall. He said the decline in violence had allowed parliament to come together as a “lively … somewhat effective” body.
Grumpy
April 6th, 2008 at 1:12 pmCJ, as we look forward to Gen. Petraeus’ visit to Congress. You are correct, The comments by the Speaker of the House, in my view. are not appropriate, as noted in the next post from 3 Apr 2008. She was definitely not helpful in finding a resolution to a very complex situation. You are right, the Congress needs to learn to listen. But I would say it a little differently. Congress needs to learn to listen – listen. Yes, the word “listen” is used twice. This means, they need to listen to what is being actually said. In an ideal world, this would be without all of the partisan political BS, on both sides. It is that second “listen”, you really want to watch. They should really really listen to what is NOT BEING SAID. Even in the ideal world, this second “listen” will hold far more weight than the first. Let me be perfectly clear, I am, in no way talking about withdrawing at this time. But we must, at some point in time, face the facts based on many factors,we will forced to leave Iraq. It would be in the best interest of the Iraqis, for them to get into the “fast track” for real problem resolution.
CJ, you said Congress needs to listen, this is partially true. General Petraeus, needs to do the same thing, I do not believe this is anything new to him. But the “Administration” needs to learn to listen-listen. There is an old adage going back many years. “What is the difference between a wise man and foolish man? The wise man knows that he knows not and the foolish man knows not that he knows not.” Did you notice both men don’t know? It is the fact of their recognition of the fact. I don’t care, even if you were in either area of these 2 conflicts, there is much you don’t know. To be honest, there is a great deal for one VERY GRUMPY OLD VET, me, to learn. This means I need to, like everybody else, learn to LISTEN-LISTEN. Join me.
GRUMPY