8 1/2 months bad, 2 weeks good!

[Damocles]

This just makes me laugh. Nothing like the total cheer leading of the press... that's the "Fourth Branch" at its best!

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/02/obamas-winning.html

In just two weeks, doing exactly the same thing as Bush was doing... Suddenly we're Winning!

February 03, 2009
Obama's Winning!

Obama is winning the hearts and minds of the once-hostile natives. Here is
NPR:

CIA-directed airstrikes against al-Qaida leaders and facilities in Pakistan over the past six to nine months have been so successful, according to senior U.S. officials, that it is now possible to foresee a "complete al-Qaida defeat" in the mountainous region along the border with Afghanistan.

The officials say the terrorist network's leadership cadre has been "decimated," with up to a dozen senior and midlevel operatives killed as a result of the strikes and the remaining leaders reeling from the repeated attacks.

Why am I reading this now, when the key events and decisions took place over the last several months? Gee, a toughie...

We do get an unexpected mention of George Bush, as well as a caveat:

The CIA has been using drone aircraft to carry out attacks on suspected al-Qaida and Taliban targets in Pakistan for several years, but such attacks were significantly expanded last summer under orders from President George W. Bush. They also became more lethal, with the CIA for the first time using Reaper drones, an enhanced version of the Predator model used previously. The Reaper is capable of carrying two Hellfire missiles, as well as precision-guided bombs.

'Too Early To Declare Victory'

The officials interviewed by NPR asked not to be identified because of sensitivities surrounding the CIA campaign. They also insist it is too early to declare victory in the struggle against al-Qaida in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, and they caution that a number of the factors that explain the recent successes could yet be reversed.

The truly paranoid will wonder about the motivation of the "senior US officials" offering this info. Maybe they are Obama-boosters trying to talk up the prospects of success in Afghanistan. Maybe it is tied to this report saying the Pentagon wants to switch the goal in Afghanistan from naion-building to defeating Al Qaeda. Or maybe this is the Old Switcheroo, with sources laying the groundwork for an extended commitment to Iraq predicated on the notion that Afghanistan is going swimmingly.

More at link...

 

[uscitizen]

And this is contrary to what Obama has said in what way?

 

[SmarterthanYou]

these are not the droids you're looking for.

 

[Damocles]

And this is contrary to what Obama has said in what way?

This is about the media. Please. At least read it before you start commenting.

Media: "8 1/2 months of bombing in Pakistan by Bush = 'Creating Terrorists' = Making Pakistan the Enemy = Badterribletarandfeathersuck."

Media: "2 weeks bombing by Obama = 'Victory' = Defeating Terrorism = Supergoodfantasticlickshoesawesomeness"

Same bombing, different reaction.

 

[uscitizen]

I said that about Iraq. You are confusing muslim countries my friend.

My biggest complaint about Afganistan has been the increased poppy production under US/UN occupation forces.

 

[Damocles]

I said that about Iraq. You are confusing muslim countries my friend.

My biggest complaint about Afganistan has been the increased poppy production under US/UN occupation forces.

What is wrong with you?

Read the fricking first post. Nobody is confusing anything here but you. The first post is a link to a blog talking about the Media giving credit of "Victory over Al Qaeda in Pakistan/Afghanistan", where they have been using drones to bomb for the past 9 months, to Obama. Who has so far let the drones drop once since he has been in office.

This isn't about what Obama said, unless you think he predicted the media would start worshiping him. It also isn't "confusing Muslim countries". Catch up or stop commenting, you are not contributing.

 

[charver]

The least you could do was congratulate President Obama for winning the war.

Could you pass on my heartfelt thanks and ask the President if he still wants all those extra European troops he was asking for last week, now there appears to be nothing for them to do.

 

[Damocles]

The least you could do was congratulate President Obama for winning the war.

Could you pass on my heartfelt thanks and ask the President if he still wants all those extra European troops he was asking for last week, now there appears to be nothing for them to do.

True, with the massive victory he created by using drones to bomb once in Pakistan we should be able to withdraw immediately. *Whew*

 

[Bonestorm]

This is about the media. Please. At least read it before you start commenting.

Media: "8 1/2 months of bombing in Pakistan by Bush = 'Creating Terrorists' = Making Pakistan the Enemy = Badterribletarandfeathersuck."

Media: "2 weeks bombing by Obama = 'Victory' = Defeating Terrorism = Supergoodfantasticlickshoesawesomeness"

Same bombing, different reaction.

But you haven't show the reports where the media has said that the bombings in Pakistan by Bush = creating terrorists = making Pakistan the enemy and terrible and all that. Have you?

I mean, I remember McCain saying how horrible the Pakistan policy was. And I remember Obama saying otherwise. And I remember a bombing that killed lots of civilians that was criticized. But I don't remember the rest of that crap up there.

 

[Damocles]

But you haven't show the reports where the media has said that the bombings in Pakistan by Bush = creating terrorists = making Pakistan the enemy and terrible and all that. Have you?

I mean, I remember McCain saying how horrible the Pakistan policy was. And I remember Obama saying otherwise. And I remember a bombing that killed lots of civilians that was criticized. But I don't remember the rest of that crap up there.

Because I assume you people have memories and can remember our conversations from the previous few months. You know the ones that said it was all "murder" etc.



It's like dealing with alzheimers patients. It gets tired, Dung. Quickly. Let's act like we can remember more than today's news stories. Let's pretend that conversations we have had here in the past really happened. I get tired of these inane, link me to stories crap when we had the conversations here, among us, started with links to the stories.

 

[Bonestorm]

Because I assume you people have memories and can remember our conversations from the previous few months. You know the ones that said it was all "murder" etc.



It's like dealing with alzheimers patients. It gets tired, Dung. Quickly. Let's act like we can remember more than today's news stories. Let's pretend that conversations we have had here in the past really happened. I get tired of these inane, link me to stories crap when we had the conversations here, among us, started with links to the stories.

Surely you can dig up some examples.

I think you are misremembering.

 

[uscitizen]

The only thing I have griped about on the bombings is the attacks inside Pakistan.
And I did not expect any big changes from Afganistan holding elections.
I still view Afganistan as pretty much a no win situation.

With that said war sucks big time.

 

[Cancel7]

Because I assume you people have memories and can remember our conversations from the previous few months. You know the ones that said it was all "murder" etc.



It's like dealing with alzheimers patients. It gets tired, Dung. Quickly. Let's act like we can remember more than today's news stories. Let's pretend that conversations we have had here in the past really happened. I get tired of these inane, link me to stories crap when we had the conversations here, among us, started with links to the stories.

Here's a classic Damo sleight of hand.

He begins the thread with a post about alleged media reactions. When usc chimes in, he scolds him with this: This is about the media. Please.

When called upon to present some examples of the media doing what he is claiming they do, he does a quick pivot, and hoping no one will notice, he slips in "Because I assume you people have memories and can remember our conversations from the previous few months. You know the ones that said it was all "murder" etc."

So now, it's about conversations we had here, and from "you know the onest that said it was all murder" implies that posters here said this.

And if they did?

Still has nothing to do with his original premise, but he has just changed what he has to "present evidence for".


Classic Damo. Nice shimmey guy.

 

[evince]

“He’s seen the results of many airstrikes over the past year or two, but this one really impressed him,” Newsweek said. “The missile didn’t just hit the right house; it scored a direct hit on the very room where Mustafa Al Misri and several other Qaeda operatives were holed up.”

The unnamed sub-commander said the hit was so accurate that “it’s as if someone had tossed a GPS device against the wall”.

According to the article, Pakistan’s intelligence services have started to “help the Americans track and kill fugitive terrorists”, “after years in which they were suspected of shielding Osama Bin Laden’s lieutenants—or, at least, not pursuing them very vigorously”.






Maybe just maybe Damo its the result of actually trying to win instead of just going through the motions.

It may have been Bush was holding back this type of accurate weapondry in an attempt to either keep us commited to both wars for his personal gain or postpone the mess when we actually withdrawl.

 

[Damocles]

The only thing I have griped about on the bombings is the attacks inside Pakistan.
And I did not expect any big changes from Afganistan holding elections.
I still view Afganistan as pretty much a no win situation.

With that said war sucks big time.

Look, Dung. Even this one can remember griping about Pakistan attacks. Even though he doesn't realize that this is what THIS thread is about.

FYI, uscitizen, I'll explain the blog article to you one more time.

The media, in this example specifically an NPR editorial, is declaring that Obama has brought us victory over al Qaeda in Pakistan with the bombings... of course, they don't mention he has only once used that strategy and it barely mentions the person who brought the policy into action.

 

[Damocles]

Here's a classic Damo sleight of hand.

He begins the thread with a post about alleged media reactions. When usc chimes in, he scolds him with this: This is about the media. Please.

When called upon to present some examples of the media doing what he is claiming they do, he does a quick pivot, and hoping no one will notice, he slips in "Because I assume you people have memories and can remember our conversations from the previous few months. You know the ones that said it was all "murder" etc."

So now, it's about conversations we had here, and from "you know the onest that said it was all murder" implies that posters here said this.

And if they did?

Still has nothing to do with his original premise, but he has just changed what he has to "present evidence for".


Classic Damo. Nice shimmey guy.

This is inane. You were one who produced some of the editorials by "the media". Why is it that people refuse to remember even the past few months when talking on a board like this?

The only "shimmey" here is the people who suddenly refuse to acknowledge even their own remarks on this, the blogs and other media articles they posted.

It's frustratingly boring to have to pretend that no past has ever taken place.

 

[Cancel7]

This is inane. You were one who produced some of the editorials by "the media". Why is it that people refuse to remember even the past few months when talking on a board like this?

The only "shimmey" here is the people who suddenly refuse to acknowledge even their own remarks on this, the blogs and other media articles they posted.

It's frustratingly boring to have to pretend that no past has ever taken place.

Really, I posted articles from "the media" saying that Bush was murdering people in Pakistan?

Can you show me?

 

[Damocles]

Threads like this one:

http://www.justplainpolitics.com/sh...-15227.html?t=15227&highlight=pakistan+murder

Note:

1. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda: The Global War on Terror started here. Osama bin Laden was to be brought in "dead or alive" -- until, in December 2001, he escaped from a partial US encirclement in the mountainous Tora Bora region of Afghanistan (and many of the US troops chasing him were soon enough dispatched Iraqwards). Seven years later, bin Laden remains free, as does his second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, probably in the mountainous Pakistani tribal areas near the Afghan border. Al-Qaeda has been reconstituted there and is believed to be stronger than ever. An allied organization that didn't exist in 2001, al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, was later declared by President Bush to be the "central front in the war on terror," while al-Qaeda branches and wannabe groups have proliferated elsewhere.

And this:

3. Pakistan: At the time of the invasion of Afghanistan, the Bush administration threw its support behind General Pervez Musharraf, the military dictator of relatively stable, nuclear-armed Pakistan. In the ensuing years, the US transferred at least $10 billion, mainly to the general's military associates, to fight the Global War on Terror. (Most of the money went elsewhere). Seven years later, Musharraf has fallen ingloriously, while the country has reportedly turned strongly anti-American -- only 19% of Pakistanis in a recent BBC poll had a negative view of al-Qaeda -- is on the verge of a financial meltdown, and has been strikingly destabilized, with its tribal regions at least partially in the hands of a Pakistani version of the Taliban as well as al-Qaeda and foreign jihadis. That region is also now a relatively safe haven for the Afghan Taliban. American planes and drones attack in these areas ever more regularly, causing civilian casualties and more anti-Americanism, as the US edges toward its third real war in the region.

This editorial clearly aims to show how "wrong" something is, that as soon as Obama gets into office changes to "victory is within our grasp because of the brave leadership"...

It's fricking freaky how you people can't remember stories like this when you posted them yourself sometimes.

 

[Damocles]

I can't believe we spend 9 months talking about the efficacy of Bush's policy in Pakistan, but nobody can even remember the conversations they have taken part in because I post a link to a blog.

 

[Cancel7]

Threads like this one:

http://www.justplainpolitics.com/sh...-15227.html?t=15227&highlight=pakistan+murder

Note:

1. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda: The Global War on Terror started here. Osama bin Laden was to be brought in "dead or alive" -- until, in December 2001, he escaped from a partial US encirclement in the mountainous Tora Bora region of Afghanistan (and many of the US troops chasing him were soon enough dispatched Iraqwards). Seven years later, bin Laden remains free, as does his second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, probably in the mountainous Pakistani tribal areas near the Afghan border. Al-Qaeda has been reconstituted there and is believed to be stronger than ever. An allied organization that didn't exist in 2001, al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, was later declared by President Bush to be the "central front in the war on terror," while al-Qaeda branches and wannabe groups have proliferated elsewhere.

And this:

3. Pakistan: At the time of the invasion of Afghanistan, the Bush administration threw its support behind General Pervez Musharraf, the military dictator of relatively stable, nuclear-armed Pakistan. In the ensuing years, the US transferred at least $10 billion, mainly to the general's military associates, to fight the Global War on Terror. (Most of the money went elsewhere). Seven years later, Musharraf has fallen ingloriously, while the country has reportedly turned strongly anti-American -- only 19% of Pakistanis in a recent BBC poll had a negative view of al-Qaeda -- is on the verge of a financial meltdown, and has been strikingly destabilized, with its tribal regions at least partially in the hands of a Pakistani version of the Taliban as well as al-Qaeda and foreign jihadis. That region is also now a relatively safe haven for the Afghan Taliban. American planes and drones attack in these areas ever more regularly, causing civilian casualties and more anti-Americanism, as the US edges toward its third real war in the region.

This editorial clearly aims to show how "wrong" something is, that as soon as Obama gets into office changes to "victory is within our grasp because of the brave leadership"...

It's fricking freaky how you people can't remember stories like this when you posted them yourself sometimes.

Some guy I never even heard of posted that, and nowhere is the word "murder" used, and, trying to pass off Tomdispatch as in any way part of "the media" is a joke.

Fail.