tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post7962406744786547597..comments2024-03-28T04:30:21.088+00:00Comments on Capitalists@Work: Obama At The Controls ?CityUnslickerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15929544047783163175noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-25519907548924836722011-05-04T22:39:15.096+01:002011-05-04T22:39:15.096+01:00You're right ND. I've never served in the...You're right ND. I've never served in the military, but speaking as a bureaucrat I couldn't agree more that these politicans should leave me alone and let me get on with doing things my way :)Steven_Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05029437876479574883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-36402148159382934692011-05-04T20:53:46.372+01:002011-05-04T20:53:46.372+01:00Say what you like about the principles on which Ob...Say what you like about the principles on which Obama operates (not quite mine, but I'd prefer him to any Republican challenger I can think of) but as a politician he's far better than anyone gives him credit for.<br /><br />Time and again he's pulled back from the brink, wrongfooted opponents, even after a fairly inevitable defeat in November, and now positioned himself for a win in 2012. <br /><br />He will have authorised and meticulously followed this operation, waving through every major decision (keeping it all totally secret), resisted the temptation to micromanage, gone to huge risks to his own credibility (just imagine the Repug reaction if the operation had failed), and executed the whole thing perfectly.<br /><br />A picture says more than I could:<br /><br />http://ow.ly/4NhUOasquithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14246701347539264295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-25830577267249430682011-05-04T19:47:10.256+01:002011-05-04T19:47:10.256+01:00yes - and I'd say Iran remains the #1 issue, l...yes - and I'd say Iran remains the #1 issue, long-term (maybe 1= with Pakistan)<br /><br />(have you seen where all that gas we get from Qatar originates ?)<br /><br />then again, I'm not clear that Iran is immune from the 'Arab Spring' (even though, as they will angrily tell you, they are not Arabs)<br /><br />best wishes to all in Frome !Nick Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13670594203660051701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-37565697986663481612011-05-04T12:58:14.360+01:002011-05-04T12:58:14.360+01:00One wonders whether Pa Bush may also have been mor...One wonders whether Pa Bush may also have been more aware of the danger over the border in Iran. Who must have been overjoyed when we went in and took Baghdad and Saddam, as it gave them free rein to do what they do best. Bush Junior would not, I think, have been able to make those tiny little leaps of Real Politik imagination which perceived a cornered Saddam as far less of a threat than an unconstrained Iran. <br /><br />From your Frome Correspondent.Elby the Beserkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15060519682739666145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-29565910440337416782011-05-04T08:13:06.150+01:002011-05-04T08:13:06.150+01:00I think you are right
perhaps the real failure of...I think you are right<br /><br />perhaps the real failure of judgment was Schwarzkopf's (as he openly berates himself) - that of not demanding Saddam present himself at the surrender in person<br /><br />apparently Saddam fully expected that this would be the price he had to pay - and that it would have finished him politically in Iraq<br /><br />another of history's <i>if onlies</i>Nick Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13670594203660051701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-1355234028205680102011-05-03T23:04:15.540+01:002011-05-03T23:04:15.540+01:00On the whole halt thing.
It really can't be bl...On the whole halt thing.<br />It really can't be blamed on bush Snr.. He didn't have a mandate for Iraq, only Kuwait. The coalition, brilliantly built, might not have survived an invasion.<br />And he hadn't planned for an invasion either. There was no doubt the coalition armour could be in Baghdad in days, but what then? As we know, that's the hard bit.<br /><br />But even more than that was the slaughter on the highway. As Iraqi troops fled Kuwait they were caught by airstrike and a three mile convoy was annihilated.<br />Thousands dead.<br /><br />At this point the media stepped in with headlines saying coalition troops were massacring fleeing soldiers in defiance of the Geneva convention and I even remember one {probably the Guardian} comparing the attack to Dresden. <br />The phone ins next day were full of stop the war voices.<br /><br />That is forgotten now, but at the time it did seem that the job was done, without a full blown middle east war erupting and Saddam's days were numbered.<br /><br />So, Bush was right to call a halt.<br />Even if the result was a bad one.<br /><br />UN Resolution 660 laid down the terms of the mission.<br /><br /> Point 2. Demands that Iraq withdraw immediately and unconditionally all <br />its forces to <b>the positions in which they were located on 1 August 1990</b>Bill Quango MPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14861116614665461655noreply@blogger.com