My Faith In The Honesty Of The Leadership Of Our Military Has Been Shattered

Petreus is lieing, start to finish. He is mouthing the White House line and trying to extend the surge until just before the 2008 elections here, and in part trying to set the stage for a future war with Iran.

This is even worse than Collin Powell's digrace in front of the United Nations.

I feel so sick I feel I can throw up :(

Sick and tired of these LIES

shattered because of this sorry speech? Mine was shattered long ago; he's just spewing what most of us knew he'd spew. I'm waiting to hear the Dems' response/questioning.

All I can say to those just now seeing, is: Welcome to our nightmare.

Now all we can do is hope our Dems can follow our lead and say: It is generally a Betrayus.

West Point, Annapolis, the Air force Academy, The Coast Guards Academy - each of them requires absolute honesty from its students and graduates. I expect no less from them, it is something I have held as a matter of faith since I was fortunate enough to share a flight with some cadets when I was in the Army.

That is what has been shattered. Its not because of this one speech either. This speech is just the straw that broke this camel's back. I do not expect that now and then a bad apple falls off the cart, look at Collin at the UN. Its just that now, with this one opening statement I realized it is systemic. The implications are very hard to take. For one thing it says to me that indeed our military would probably support martial law on a national scale.

hope you actually had, thought that was a bit tongue-in-cheek. And yes, the implications are hard to take, and hard to miss. :hug:

I cannot stop laughing.

There're delusional people, naive people, and zealots anywhere. Most cadets are idealists and personal integrity is one of the most common attributes among them. At the same time, military indoctrination does NOT reward those who "march to a different drummer." The primary reason integrity and honesty are emphasized is because it's essential to "good order and discipline" ... and a 'false report' is one of the greatest sins.

That said, it must be noted how Petraeus focused on the MILITARY operations and (assignable) objectives. They're being tasked to accomplish the impossible: wage war for peace against (effectively) criminality and not an opposition military. The military can only attempt to achieve a CONTEXT for a greater and more cooperative POLITICAL effort. But that effort is not being undertaken. What's being undertaken is exploitation for NARROW advantage, not cooperation. The political 'leadership' is corrupted.

or was it the Jessica Lynch story or was it the Tillman story or was it the alQaeda #2's or was it oh I dunno ....this

Some Evidence Suggests Saddam Dead: Bush
Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, April 25, 2003
http://english.people.com.cn/200304/25/eng...
US President Bush said in a television interview Thursday that there is some evidence suggesting Saddam Hussein is either dead or "at the very minimum was severely wounded." Bush also said US troops would remain in Iraq "as long as necessary."

DNA tests after missiles strike 'Saddam convoy'
Sunday June 22, 2003
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/...
American specialists were carrying out DNA tests last night on human remains believed by US military sources to be those of Saddam Hussein and one of his sons, The Observer can reveal.

Officials suspect Saddam was killed in bombing
Posted 4/10/2003
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/20...
WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence has no clear information on Saddam Hussein's whereabouts, but the betting in the Pentagon's executive offices is that the Iraqi dictator lies dead under a pile of rubble in Baghdad, according to defense and intelligence officials.

But the theory given most credence is that Saddam died in Monday's bomber attack on a home near a Baghdad restaurant.
"The official take from the Pentagon is that Saddam is 'unfound,' " a senior defense intelligence official said on condition of anonymity. "Most along the E-Ring (the Pentagon's outermost hallway and executive suite) think he's under the rubble."
A Defense Department intelligence official said an abrupt end to an electronic intelligence intercept of Iraqi leadership conversations indicated that Saddam and his sons were at the site at the time of the bombing.
"The signal died when the bombs hit," the official said.

Saddam Captured 'Like a Rat' in Raid
Sunday, December 14, 2003
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,105706...

Saddam Hussein arrested in Iraq
Sunday, 14 December, 2003, 17:04 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_ea...
______________________________________________________________
Pentagon: 'Chemical Ali' Killed in Attack
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2...

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon believes "Chemical Ali," Saddam Hussein's cousin who ordered a chemical attack on Kurds in northern Iraq in 1988, is dead, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld confirmed Monday.

'Chemical Ali' reported dead
Monday, 7 April, 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/292...


Officials: Body of 'Chemical Ali' Found in Basra
Monday, April 07, 2003
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,83383,...


'Chemical Ali' Captured in Iraq
Thursday, August 21, 2003
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,95314,...


'Chemical Ali' in U.S. custody
Thursday, August 21, 2003
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/08... /
DOHA, Qatar (CNN) -- Ali Hassan al-Majid, the Iraqi general known as "Chemical Ali," is in U.S. custody, military officials tell CNN.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/underpants/18

Petraeus and others have been handpicked by Bush
to spout the lie. Anyone who doesn't gets fired.

the only thing left is yes men.

nimrods who stood in front of the nation to wait for their medals for lying faithfully to the people and who would not do the honorable thing and resign before being used as a tool. Most of them are talking heads now.

he so licked georgie's balls - oh yes, sir. we will get the oil secured straight away. get back to those munitions when all is well. crikey!

Vietnam? Somalia? Gulf War I? Afghanistan?

Aren't you being a little hyperbolic here? The armed forces has pretty much always been an entirely untrustworthy source of information. This is just business as usual.

Smedley Butler was an exception... one that proves the rule.

I'm sure there are a handful of others with integrity... but hardly any.

This, sadly, is just par for the course.

War is a RACKET.

In 1934 Butler came forward and reported to the U.S. Congress that a group of wealthy pro-Fascist industrialists had been plotting to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a left-wing military coup. Even though the congressional investigating committee corroborated most of the specifics of his testimony, no further action was taken.

Colin had his chance... as did Petraeus.

Bush is commander in chief and he will say anything Bush wants him to, like the previous reply said, any Generals with integrity resigned a long time ago rather than work for Bush.

They have discovered that its all a scam.

Petraeus is no more likely to tell the truth about conditions in Iraq than Terri Schiavo was able to tell about her own condition.

Like Schiavo, Petraeus is simply the empty vessel into which a million Rethuglican neo-con talking points has been poured, and they think it's going to go over. No more true than in the Schiavo case.

Is this Russia that the public has no voice and cannot say that this hearing is a farce and full of lies?

:thumbsdown:

Reading out the sections of the law to prosecute the demonstrators is so unDemoCratic! I am sick of both parties and their hand in going into this war of LIES and their continual funding it with billions of $$$$$$.

Crocker should lay off of Saddam, he is dead, you lied about him and made him your boogie man.

They were the unfortunate scapegoats of a military and government leadership that was horribly flawed.

I only pray that our brave soldiers will not be reduced to this treatment when they finally get home.

THE ART OF WAR

The Bushies don't read ...do they?

All we have left wearing stars on their uniforms in the military are the sycophants willing to lie and commit war crimes for our idiot in chief.

Lots of officers have spoken out against the war, but these days we tend to refer to them as "retired" officers.

I don't know how anyone could trust military leadership after that.

I also received the Bronze Star medal on 2 occasions.

notice "Stormin' Norman" has been silent.