NUKE_CLEVELAND

QUOTE(Texsox @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 09:19 AM) No. So does Rudy G.'s marrriage record make him not a real Republican? Im not a moralist by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think having a bad time with marriage ( lots of people do ) and lewd public conduct are even on the same planet.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 07:09 AM) Be my guest! I took it from a t-shirt site. Have to go back and buy on of those, just to piss off my brother-in-law! If you find the site again please send me a link. I have a few friends who I plan on sending one to.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 08:18 AM) Why do you say he isn't a "real Republican"? Trolling for sex in a mens room? That doesn't sound like behavior consistent with a party that champions family values does it?

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 09:05 AM) We have a huge border. It's neither realistic nor feasible to think that we can catch every illegal alien that crosses the border. The best way to stop the illegal flow of labor is to stop allowing businesses to hire them. Read any one of my posts on this subject and you'll see me make the same point. Problem is that business enforcement is only one part of the solution.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 08:25 AM) This kind of plan is out there Nuke, and there are a lot of Democrats supporting it. Republicans too. Sometimes I wonder if the call to just bring everyone home is because our mission doesn't seem to be evolving, just getting more and more confusing. If the Bush administration made this proposal and said we'll start this process on January 1. It would meet approval with most people in the US. But the problem is that there's no definition of victory from the administration - only definition of defeat. I think its hard to get behind people without a real plan, especially when it means putting American lives on the line. That's where I gleaned most of the points from. When it comes to Iraq, Democrats, at least the moderate ones, make some really good points that I agree with. The Bush Administration has defined victory.....when the Iraqi's can stand on their own.......the problem is that we're not providing them any incentive at all to do so. Right now they're getting a free ride and being allowed to dither about while we do EVERYTHING. I think most people would support the current "surge" policy if it were coupled with a more realistic exit strategy and some real pressure on the Iraqi's to step up and take charge. Another thing that's worthy of note is that the U.S. military is finally learning how to do counterinsurgency. It wasn't the surge that quelled the violence in Anbar province but the fact that we showed that we were genuinely there to help them.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Sep 10, 2007 -> 04:22 PM) Just a quick thought about the 'poll'. Who took this poll and how the hell did they get the answers? Surely some pollster wasn't going door to door, were they? And I thought phone service was spotty at best? I simply question the ability of any objective pollster to be able to GET the information in the first place. I love that avatar and Im going to blatantly copy it.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 10, 2007 -> 03:09 PM) Isn't it though? How many times do I have to say that Bush has been wrong as well? It's AMAZING how much you all want to just keep going right over that every single time I say it, because my message doesn't cowtow the Democrat talking points. THEY ARE BOTH wrong, and they are BOTH wrong for political reasons. That's the part that sucks the most. Our guys are being politicized... and I hate it. But, we're there, and if the political ramifcations were taken off the table, I think we could have a lot more success. DING!

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 10, 2007 -> 06:46 PM) And sure enough, Senator Craig has filed to withdraw the plea. Again, this is a legal manuever that very rarely succeeds. And I don't see how he can convince the judge that he was somehow a victim of panic or intimidation, when there was a month and a half between the arrest and his plea adjudication. This dude is just making life difficult for everyone around him at this point. This clown just needs to quit right this second so a real Republican can have the proper time to campaign for and win the seat. What a disgrace.

One more thing before I go to bed is that it just blows me away how much the defeatist wing of the Democratic party ( that one that wants us all out of Iraq this very minute ) just plays into the hands of our enemy. The ideal scenario for Bin Laden and his ilk is for the Green Zone to become another Saigon circa 1975. That's exactly what would happen if the U.S. were to withdraw all combat forces as the looney left is proposing. The fact that they aid the enemies of this country with their defeatist rhetoric is downright shameful. ( Gotta love how moveon.org slimed Petreaus in the NYT the other day ) If we do it right, we can still win this thing and within a reasonable amount of time.

Not a great deal has happened since my last entry. We've been spending a lot of time staring at nothing during our patrols ( all during the overnight hours while another unit works days ). No complaints from me whatsoever. Often times we'll get a foot patrol going and just go walking around checking things out. It's eerily quiet out there in the middle of the night. Nobody is around and anything could happen. Last week we turned up some pretty good intel on a bunch of thugs that had been trying to toss grenades at the unit that works days in our area and damn near nailed em the next night. This came from just talking to random people who just happened to still be up and around when we passed by. One sad thing, though, is that the other day one sergeant in another unit I went to class with back at Ft. Knox last year was killed in action. Another one of these guys tossing grenades got a lucky throw in and killed him. No word on whether they nailed the guys that did it cause I've been away guarding this stupid Iraqi, U.S. compound the past few days. Speaking of that compound that I have to guard a couple of days a week, that place just totally cracks me up. We have this transition team working out of the place supposedly training the National Police to take over security for themselves. I have to laugh, though, cause they kicked the last one they had working there to the curb because they weren't doing much of anything except sitting on their asses. They have a new one in there now but I didn't seen much of them during my most recent overnight stay there ( except when it was time to eat ). Anyway, I went into the radio room the other day to try to get an update on what was going on out in sector ( we were getting ready to leave and needed to check on the roads ) and I caught a perfect snapshot of our working relationship with the Iraqis. All the Iraqi guys were sitting around a conference table watching some Arabic MTV knockoff on their satellite TV while the U.S. guys were scrambling around trying to get a handle on a major incident that just happened. Pathetic. The more bulls*** I see like that the more I agree with those who say we need to drawdown our forces, change their role to counter terrorism ops and securing the borders and critical U.S. assets.

I have no sympathy at all for farmers who rely on illegal immigrant labor. If they put being a legitimate business and paying a decent wage over their own profits then they would have no need for illegal immigrant labor.

QUOTE(CubsSuck1 @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 09:59 PM) NUKE, who do you like out of the candidates running for the GOP nomination? Without having done a lot of looking over of the candidates, I like Fred Thompson the most of the bunch. The rest of the field are too unknown or have too much baggage. I may change my tune later but as of now, Thompson is my guy.

Here's my take on the Iraq war, noting that I've been here in the middle of it for nearly 2 years now in total. It was the right thing to do.....at the right time......done the wrong way. We all saw how easily Afghanistan fell after dropping in a few SF guys. The Taliban, a low rent group of thugs, fell like a house of cards with a few horseback charges and smart bombs. Fast forward to 2003. We thought we could go into Iraq "on the cheap" ( as I like to say it). Bush and Rumsfeld didn't listen to Gen Shinseki when he called for an overwhelming number of troops, laughed at him and sacked him at that. So now, they go in and conduct a brilliantly executed operation to destroy the Iraqi Army and topple the government. What was left after that, though, was a vacuum. We had far too few troops to police the place ourselves and we made, in my estimation, a colossal mistake in disbanding the Iraqi Army and police. Not only did we deprive ourselves of a huge pool of manpower but turned them into the militias of today by tossing them out of their jobs and letting them keep their weapons. The vast majority of Iraqi soldiers were not raging baathists but were horribly mistreated by Saddam and would have proven serviceable allies in keeping a lid on things. So now we had the twin tasks of building an army and police force from scratch along with policing a lawless land with no government. A tall task by any measure. Now, in 2007, we have "the surge". Which was a really great idea back in 2003-2004 and long overdue in 2007. It's starting to show real progress, in my opinion. Baghdad is much less violent than it was when I first got on the ground this go around. Back in March and April I was getting into gunfights and dodging IED's every single day. Now, attacks against US forces and locals in my sector, which covers a wide swath of South Baghdad, are down to one a week or so. The real failure, and I think this will bite us in the ass when we're trying to get out of here, is the fact that we don't let the National Police do much of anything aside from manning checkpoints these days. U.S. forces in the entire district where I am do EVERYTHING when it comes to patrolling the neighborhoods. This means that the police have little or no relationship with the population and, in fact, the police are literally afraid ( or too lazy depending on who you talk to ) to patrol their own city. What I feel we should do now that violence is way down is to get the Iraqi Security forces involved in everything. Make these bastards do their damn job. I say give them till spring to get their act together and then, ready or not, let them go on their own. At this point, we should reduce the number of U.S. forces drastically ( down to 100k) and change their role from beat cop to sealing off the Iranian and Syrian borders, counterterrorism ops against Al Queda, and protecting critical U.S. assets. When it comes to politics, both sides are right about some things and somewhere in the middle is the real right answer to getting this done.

QUOTE(LowerCaseRepublican @ Sep 8, 2007 -> 06:47 PM) Then put your money where your mouth is. If you like the invasion of another country so much, then go join the surge. But you likely won't, because whining and b****ing about "liberals" is a lot easier than putting your ass on the line in a marketplace in urban Iraq. AHEM..........

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 2, 2007 -> 11:06 AM) Your last post was interesting... do you think that is a lot of why we are having so much trouble over there (the group that took your place aren't really in it to calm things down like your unit...). Honestly, I don't know why they replaced us in our old sector. We had that place pretty well locked down in the time we were there and then these chumps come in and now everythings all messed up. Kind of annoying if you ask me.

QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Sep 2, 2007 -> 04:51 PM) Also regarding your last last post... Frederick the Great said "He who defends everything defends nothing". That rang SOOOOOOOOOO true to me when I read it. Very well played!

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 3, 2007 -> 08:56 PM) So what does it do for the troops when George W Bush shows up in Iraq, or when a lesser politician shows up? Does it annoy you? Does it insprire you? Do you guys even care, or notice that they are there? I don't think anybody even notices when he shows up. I didn't even know he was here until I read about it online.

Wow! I looked at this today and saw I haven't made an entry in over 2 weeks! Well, there really hasn't been much to write about since then. My unit is still running night patrols in our sector and it's been as quiet as can be lately. When we go walking around the area the people we stop and talk to all tell us how quiet it's been around there and that makes us feel like we've been doing our job well. Every time the bad guys try to set up an IED or something we always find it right away and dispose of it. The locals have been really cooperative as well. They no longer hesitate to snitch on their neighbor who's involved with Al Queda or whatever else. I wish I could say the same about our old sector. The area we left back in May to go where we area are now has really gone south. We drove through there the other day around sunrise and the place was a total ghost town. In one area every single building was either burned out or blown up and several others were totally pock marked with bullet holes. NICE! I told you guys the people who took over for us were a bunch of idiots. Seems they don't patrol their sector because they went crazy building tons of these combat outposts and all their guys are tied down guarding them. That's rich.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Aug 29, 2007 -> 04:07 PM) I don't think it is fair to compare him to a "normal" American. Compare him to other Senators, CEOs, peers in his group. Why? Why should we allow these sanctimonious politicians to exude sacrifice of the rest of us while they gleefully exempt themselves from their own rules? You think John Edwards is going to give up his private jets or his fleet of cars? If he's so damn worried about the environment he should fly commercial, have his mansion turned into wetlands while he moves into a 1000 sq ft home and take public transportation everywhere he goes.

QUOTE(Yossarian @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 03:29 PM) Aren't we quick to accuse? My family has Blacks, Spanish and French speaking immigrants, and one Jewish uncle through intermarriage. I certainly don't hate any of them, and to the best of my knowledge none of them dislikes me. My heart does break when I visit Albany Park. Or Little Village or Humboldt Park, and countless other Chicago neighborhoods. Recent immigrants have not treated those neighborhoods with the same respect as past residents. If in 21st Century America it makes one a racist to say that, then things are more PC than even I imagined. I taught history, and don't need a lesson on immigration. This is the third major wave of immigration since the Revolutionary war, and yes everyone who came before this current group also caught hell. It's part of the process, and being half Italian, I know the insults, slurs, and menial jobs that stood in the way of my ancestors advancement. The problem today is that assimilation is a dirty word, and many of today's immigrants are not encouraged and don't wish to assimilate. Some liberals even call that sort of thing racist. What a world we live in? Many of today's immigrants would return to their native countries in a heartbeat, if conditions were different. Most of yesterday's immigrants clung tenaciously to the old ways, but encouraged, no demanded that their offspring assimilate (again that dirty word). Yeah I'm glad they deported that loud unpleasant woman. I think a country that has 10 or 12 or whatever million undocumented aliens is courting disaster. I know the Albany Park of my youth is far superior to the battleground neighborhood of today, and if it's not at least partly the fault of the current residents then whose fault is it? A long time ago, when I was a kid playing ball on the playground at Roosevelt High, three of my best friends were immigrants from Quebec, Sicily and Cuba. You could hear French, Italian, and Spanish in their homes. All three turned out to be fine hard working guys. Great pals to have as a kid. I wasn't taught to judge people based on their race or nationality, and I also wasn't taught to gussie up the truth as I see it. If that makes me a racist to some of you then tough twinkies. One more thing. I get sad when I visit Albany Park. Bravo Sir. Your opinion is the most sane and logical argument I've seen yet regarding this issue.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20414211/site/newsweek/ For those who don't know, this illegal alien, criminal has been holed up in some church in Chicago for the past year or so. She has spent that time making various demands of the Federal Government, politicians and various commentators pushing for amnesty for an estimated 12 million of her fellow criminals who are illegally residing within the United States. She has FINALLY been arrested and deported by the ICE for her crimes. To my way of thinking, this felon should have been arrested just as soon as her whereabouts were known last year and those harboring her should have been thrown in jail as well. It's an absolute travesty how this saga was allowed to continue for so long. CRIMINAL

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 17, 2007 -> 09:07 AM) And now that everyone is panicking, the markets are rallying. S&P up over 2% so far. It's the oldest maxim of investing. You wait for there to be total panic........chaos.......blood everywhere in the streets.......................then you buy in like there's no tomorrow. Works every time.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Aug 14, 2007 -> 09:48 PM) Actually, he was one of several people involved in the murders allegedly. The media is calling him the "ringleader" but details are still sketchy on that IMO. Would these kids be alive if he had been found to be illegal? Maybe, there were other legal residents involved. The truth is, it's not the job of Joe Patrolman to determine the legal status of every Jose, Pedro and Inez that they encounter in the street - that's up to the ICE and up to an Attorney's office, maybe prosecutors should examine that evidence when they're presented with someone charged for a crime. Maybe state and local law enforcement officials should stop hampering the investigation of illegal aliens and stop offering their jurisdictions as safe havens for these parasites.

Every time I b**** about how boring this place can be sometimes bad things happen but I simply can't help myself this time. Ever since my unit started doing patrols at night exclusively not a damn thing has happened. This is because after curfew there is nobody around to play with and if they do stick their heads outside they get a green laser right in the eye to remind them of the time. We've pretty much wrapped up all of the people affiliated with Al Queda so we haven't done as many raids lately either. I suppose this has advantages. Not the least of which is the fact that it's a lot safer and also that we get to avoid being out in the heat of the day ( still upwards of 110 every day ). Maybe I should just shut my yap and be happy for a change.

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Aug 14, 2007 -> 11:16 AM) Add three more victims to the illegal murder list. Its a great country isn't it? Illegal kills our citizens after twice receiving bail for two previous crimes. God forbid you ask someone to show proof of residency. Ask the five year old this sick f*** raped. Ask the parents of these three people who were murdered if they care about this a******* rights. We must be sensitive to illegals' rights. Sanctuary country is what we are people. New Jersey should fry this guy ..yesterday. They won't do a damn thing to this guy. This pussified country is so concerned about the "rights" of these people that this guy will get off.......again.