Rep. Maurice Hinchey’s claim that President Bush intentionally let Osama Bin Laden escape to justify the war in Iraq is both appalling and ludicrous. The capture of Bin Laden and the overthrow of Saddam were complementary goals, not contradictory.
Hinchey’s conspiracy theory does not make sense even on its own twisted terms.
Would not the successful capture of Bin Laden have signaled a winding down of the Afghan operation and thus free more troops for Iraq?
And surely before a member of Congress hurled such a vile charge, some evidence should be required. I am getting tired of my former president being accused of, in essence, purposefully sacrificing the lives of young men and women in the field (soldiers, sailors and Marines he clearly cared so much about) to forward his own nefarious aims.
It is laughable that Sen. John Kerry of all people should be issuing a report on the Tora Bora operation that is a scathing criticism of the past administration for not committing enough troops in the initial operations in Afghanistan when he himself, was an advocate for restraint and limited commitment from the outset. Funny, he seemed less Gung-Ho back on December 15, 2001 when he praised the Bush-Rumsfeld strategy, saying: “For the moment what we are doing, I think, is having its impact and it is the best way to protect our troops and sort of minimalize the proximity, if you will. I think we have been doing this pretty effectively and we should continue to do it that way.” Today’s Wall Street Journal sums up his position thusly: “Mr. Kerry is now in favor of more troops, after he was against them.”
It was, as the 2001 John Kerry would attest, understandable that Rumsfeld et. al. were very leery of making a massive commitment of men and material to Afghanistan. After all – his fellow Democrats feel exactly the same way today.
23 responses so far
1 ottovbvs // Dec 1, 2009 at 2:25 pm
……Hinchey’s comments are about as idiotic as yours Mr Schaeffer……..Bush didn’t make the committment of troops to Afghanistan when it might have had some faint chance of success 8 YEARS AGO but instead he claimed firstly that Iraq had WMD, invaded and when that proved baloney he then claimed it was the “central front in war on terror”…..for most of the past six years this series of huge miscalculations necessitated we maintain 130-180,000 troops in Iraq while we had about 30,000 in Afghanistan
2 MI-GOPer // Dec 1, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Brad, you make excellent points about the hyper-hyprocrisy from the far Left and democrats on trying to make Bush appear to be the Ditherer in Chief that Obama has copywritten and trademarked.
Of course, this is from the same wing of the far Left that complained loudly that the Bush team had actually caught bin Laden was holding him in a remote location to spring his capture –and resulting death, no witnesses tell no lies– as an October surprise in 2004.
Loons. The left is literally fried up on crack with all these loons and trolls. You prove that they’re all about Bashing Bush –because that’s how they got into power. And with the dithering charge, they’d like to attach it to Bush because that makes their Obama Messiah look temperate by comparison… and excusable. When he’s neither.
Good piece; well written. On target. To think that JohnTossMyMedalsKerry is the democrat’s leading foreign policy guru? Shudders.
3 rbottoms // Dec 1, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Bush’s decision to put insufficient forces into Afghanistan is even less explicable eight years on than it was back then. This is the country that hosted the villains who attacked us yet four times the number of forces are poured into Ira which had nothing at all to do with 9/11.
The idea that Democrats are reluctant to continue pouring money into a war that has gone on twice as long as it took us to defeat the entire German, Italian, and Japanese combined is hard to fathom is itself silly.
Of course they are going to ask, does this make sense and what is our strategy for getting out.
Hamid Karzi is a bumbler, a theif, and an enabler of corruption. Oh, and he is also supplier of most of the world’s heroin. What is our strategy for dealing with that?
What exactly is success? George W. Bush could never tell us what it was for certain, and more importantly he had nearly eight years for figure it out and make it happen.
He failed.
We are still in Afghanistan because George W. Bush failed and the cheering section demanding a do-over backed him to the hilt then and refuse to acknowledge that failure now. Whatever Mr. Obama does it is because he has a gigantic mess to clean up left to him by the worst president in history.
4 balconesfault // Dec 1, 2009 at 4:06 pm
It is laughable for the Democrats to criticize President Bush for being cautious about supporting a massive commitment of men and material to Afghanistan in 2001, when so many in their party feel that same way today.
Seriously dude … you’ve never heard the line “closing the barn door after the cows have gotten out”?
5 MI-GOPer // Dec 1, 2009 at 4:48 pm
balconesfault-BarryS-RioRancho-MrFace et al asks: “Seriously dude … you’ve never heard the line “closing the barn door after the cows have gotten out”?”
Not applicable. For Obama Messiah and Afghanistan it’s more like tossing the baby out with the bath water. All that blood, treasure and trials tossed away by a Cut & Run president who dithers better than deciding.
Oh, if world events had just forced the Ditherer in Chief to act last June!
Hey, it’s been a year… why hasn’t Obama caught bin Laden yet? Maybe Obama thinks if things heat up for ACORN, bin Laden can provide shelter and sanctuary for ACORN… it beats having to live in San Francisco.
6 chinagreenelvis // Dec 1, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Your argument goes something like this:
1. Maurice Hinchey apparently made a ridiculous accusation concerning a previous non-commitment on Bush’s part to send more troops to the conflict in Afghanistan six years ago.
2. President Obama is currently ambivalent about whether or not to send more troops to Afghanistan in 2009.
3. Maurice Hinchey is a Democrat.
Conclusion: All Democrats are hypocrites.
Amended conclusion: All Democrats are “literally fried up on crack with all these loons and trolls” and are “all about Bashing Bush” which is how they “got into power.”
Folks, I think it’s time to set the record straight. A lot of liberals are crackpots. A lot of conservatives are crackpots. Not all liberals are Democrats. Not all Democrats are liberals. Not all conservatives are Republicans. Not all Republicans are conservatives. I’d like to see you attempt to avoid making pig-headed blanket statements which not only unfairly generalize and thus dehumanize individuals strung loosely together by wavering values and core beliefs, but also render your own accusations meaningless by serving only to point out the ironic truth that by making them you are
a. generalizing and dehumanizing yourself by being collectively assimilated into the opposing “party”
b. waving your own banner of hypocrisy as the flag of that party.
7 ottovbvs // Dec 1, 2009 at 5:01 pm
balconesfault // Dec 1, 2009 at 4:06 pm
” Seriously dude … you’ve never heard the line “closing the barn door after the cows have gotten out”?”
……motor mouth goper has also clearly never heard the line “an empty drum makes the most noise.”
8 rbottoms // Dec 1, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Fixed.
He took time to hear all sides, came up with a plan and an exit strategy and is in the process of announcing it today. I take note the sky did not fall nor did Bin Laden roll into Kabul in triumph while we were waiting. No, I think this was three weeks of Republican Outrage &tm; that they will now move on to the next intolerable thing the president has done to the country.
9 txanne // Dec 1, 2009 at 5:04 pm
But Bush declared in 2002 that the Taliban was out of business, and then months later declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq.
Obviously he was living in some kind of dream world. Well, it’s reality time now and you guys on the far right need to WAKE-UP!
10 Independent // Dec 1, 2009 at 7:03 pm
“Not applicable. For Obama Messiah and Afghanistan it’s more like tossing the baby out with the bath water. All that blood, treasure and trials tossed away by a Cut & Run president who dithers better than deciding. Oh, if world events had just forced the Ditherer in Chief to act last June! Hey, it’s been a year… why hasn’t Obama caught bin Laden yet? Maybe Obama thinks if things heat up for ACORN, bin Laden can provide shelter and sanctuary for ACORN… it beats having to live in San Francisco.” –mi gop
literally, i’m laughing out loud because those lines capture the essence of the democrats here like no other spoken so far. for mr obama, just announcing the plan will be the equivalent of mr bush’s winning the war in iraq, the war on terror and capturing ksm and the others… it’s taken the man that long to make a simple decision that is a carbon copy of last march’s and the cheney plans. dither doesn’t even come close to the negligence of mr obama.
11 Independent // Dec 1, 2009 at 7:12 pm
“Obviously he was living in some kind of dream world. Well, it’s reality time now and you guys on the far right need to WAKE-UP!” -txanne
well, you guys have done a whole lot worse. it’s been a year and obl is still at large and your guys don’t even know where he is on any given day. it’s been a year and mr obama is poised to marginally and insubstantially tweek a plan that’s been on the table for months and months. it’s been a year and your side is no closer to figuring out how to resolve the islamic terrorists’ campaign against america except to say we’ll give them a fair trial in new york. it’s been a year and you still haven’t found a way to make our friends comfortable with mr obama’s backsliding and our enemies fear us might flexed with purpose.
someone here said obama is losing the wars that bush was winning? it’s becoming more true each day as mr obama gets out manuevered by a stone age politico (karzai) in a 3rd world country and that guy gets to keep his job, his american dollars in the french banks, build a palace that rivals anything saddam could build in his wildest, most unencumbered days… mr obama out manuevered by hamid karzai again and again.
simply amazing. mr obama and his supporters are as clueless on this score as they are on over-reaching voter support for endless democrat deficits.
12 txanne // Dec 1, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Independent of rational thought….yes, that fits nicely.
Are you even an adult? “You guys have done a whole lot worse.”?
” Its been a year and obl is still at large!”
Are you kidding me? You are comparing a bit over 10 months to SEVEN YEARS of total incompetence.
Your arguments are just as ridiculous as your handle. You type a lot of words that mean absolutely nothing. But then again, I understand that there is no way that you can deny that what I posted is the truth, and it must be painful for you.
13 Independent // Dec 1, 2009 at 9:18 pm
“Your arguments are just as ridiculous as your handle. You type a lot of words that mean absolutely nothing. But then again, I understand that there is no way that you can deny that what I posted is the truth, and it must be painful for you” -taxanne
well, let’s see taxanne… you begin with a little bush bashing –a favorite sport for most of the trolls on this site… then you move on to trying to defend the indefensible actions of mr obama –the second most favorite sport and sole rationale for being on this site… and then you attack those who take exception to your “opinions”… and lie like a rug while doing it all. astonishing… amazing… pure democrat.
it doesn’t take a village to turn the town into idiots –you move in and do it all by your lonesome.
14 Independent // Dec 1, 2009 at 9:27 pm
“I take note the sky did not fall nor did Bin Laden roll into Kabul in triumph while we were waiting.” –rbottoms
you might note that while the rest of the world notes that mr obama adopted the basic bush-rumsfeld strategy in place for 7 yrs, it took mr oabam nearly 9 months to do that simple task, while he was outmanuevered by a corrupt, drug-dealing 3rd world despot, he spoiled and angered our allies and embraced our enemies, he caved into soviet pressure to halt deployment on a forward positioned defense shield for eastern europe and got nothing in return –no help on iran, no help on n korea, no help on afghanistan, nothing. nato allies will be trying to figure out how to get out of the mostly non-combat duties in afghanistan while mr obama dithers there a bit longer… the reason problem isn’t that mr obama finally decided… the real problem (and mrs clinton is one of the few non-czar appointees who understands this) is that it took mr obama so long to decide and the message sent abroad is that american resolve is like mr obama’s domestic support: a mile wide and a single inch deep.
defining a strategy of cutting and running from yet another military battle never took the democrats so long… so much for mr obama’s war of necessity and another campaign promise bites the dust.
15 txanne // Dec 1, 2009 at 9:37 pm
“and then you attack those who take exception to your “opinions”… and lie like a rug while doing it all. astonishing… amazing… pure democrat.”
I posted facts. Do you deny that Bush said we had defeated the Taliban and accomplished the mission in Iraq?
16 Independent // Dec 1, 2009 at 9:39 pm
“But Bush declared in 2002 that the Taliban was out of business, and then months later declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq.” –txanne
gee, those are real thick glasses you’ve got –they’ve distorted reality and destroyed your sense of perception… if you’d put down the huffington post talking points –which is where you get the lie of “(mr) bush delcared in 20o2″… that lie has been discredited repeatedly on blogs that i read and i’m surprised to see it pop up out of the manure pile here, too… follow the the huffington post citations in the article where txanne gets her lies http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/16/bush-changes-tune-on-tali_n_151433.html and surprise, the citations dead end into a wh generated, suspiciously non-archived page that, as those who’ve discredited the lie can attest, it is against federal law to change a white house web page.
the people here must know that, txanne… you simply look the fool for trollishly repeating fake talking points fresh from huffington post pure fictional segments.
or didn’t you know it the talking points you spout were discredited?
17 Independent // Dec 1, 2009 at 9:43 pm
“I posted facts” –txanne
umm, no you didn’t and the talking points you’re using without doing the leg work to establish they are valid make you look like either a fool or a lying troll… or didn’t you know you were being made a tool by the huffington post and jason linkins… it’s the problem with having unlimited capacity for the village idiots on the left to create a blog at huffington post… the name and entire website suffers from the failure to sort out lies from the usual hatefilled hard left spew.
18 Independent // Dec 1, 2009 at 9:45 pm
by the way, txanne, bush declared the mission accomplished in may 2003 –not exactly your count of a few months later, eh?
19 txanne // Dec 2, 2009 at 12:04 am
Sorry you went to all that trouble Indy. Yes the WH removed that litlle tidbit from their website and pulled it from Youtube as well. I dont blame them, pretty embarrassing!
But I didnt get it from the web. I saw it on the TV. It’s still out there on the airwaves, but I am sure you only watch FOX and will never see it.
20 MI-GOPer // Dec 2, 2009 at 7:25 am
Independent, thanks for outing another trollish behavior here amongst the far Left commenters at Frum Forum. They love to take HuffPo or DailyKos speaking points verbatim, present them as near-Biblical fact, then try to avert and distract when uncovered and outed for the troll-like behavior.
If any of the writers on this site tried that stunt with a WorldNet article, the hounds of trolls would be screaming in the streets for weeks. We’d have an assorted list of manufactured characters calling the writer a “coward” or “yellow” or God only knows what… oh wait, that’s already happened, eh?
txanne got p’wned.
21 Raider1 // Dec 2, 2009 at 10:04 am
Looks like Otto once again misses the mark and instead defaults to his DNC talking points handbook. Didn’t Schaeffer offer up that the Dems were cautious too about committing troops? Remember when everyone was calling it a “quagmire” and saying we were the next Red Army?
Amazing the partisan hack you are, masquerading as an intellectual.
22 MI-GOPer // Dec 2, 2009 at 10:55 am
Raider1, automaticBS’er has been at it here for a long, long time. He isn’t here to persuade. He isn’t here to help conservatives and the GOP reframe the debate and re-emerge as the majority again… he’s here to incite, irritate, inflame, annoy, distract and disrupt.
Just like the manufactured names hiding under the rubric of balconsefault-BarryS-Mr Face-Moderate et al.
You nailed him with “Amazing the partisan hack you (Otto) are, masquerading as an intellectual”.
23 txanne // Dec 2, 2009 at 11:12 am
sigh…I really dont know why you want to deny the truth
Maybe this pro-Bush website will help.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2003/11/005182.php
excerpt from the transcript of the speech:
“Terrorists need places to hide, to plot, and to train, so we’re holding their allies, the allies of terror to account. (Applause.) Working with a fine coalition, our military went to Afghanistan, destroyed the training camps of al Qaeda, and put the Taliban out of business forever. (Applause.)
OK you guys p’wned me (I did get the date wrong) mea culpa!
Hmmmm…that blog also linked to the WH website for video of the speech, and guess what? It wasnt there!
As Indy pointed out above, it ended up in the same spot as that HP link
“the citations dead end into a wh generated, suspiciously non-archived page,”
What’s up with that?
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