Saturday, December 08, 2007

A beastly case of whiplash

Or perhaps Batiste. Over the last year and a half, I have had just about enough of retired Major General Batiste, USA. He became one of the house-Generals for the anti-victory left, putting out adds like this and talking to Keith Olbermann. He even denied that VoteVets was anti-war. Check VoteVets out for yourself and see what I think Batiste was a bit late in seeing - to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Well, hey - everyone can come back to the Church of Victory. Check out the following Batiste put out with Pete Hegseth of VetsForFreedom.
It's time to discuss the way forward rather than prosecute the past. Congress must do the same, for our nation and the troops.

Overall, this will require learning from our strategic blunders, acknowledging successes achieved by our courageous military and forging a bold path. We believe America can and must rally around five fundamental tenets:

First, the United States must be successful in the fight against worldwide Islamic extremism. We have seen this ruthless enemy firsthand, and its global ambitions are undeniable. This struggle, the Long War, will probably take decades to prosecute. Failure is not an option.

Second, whether or not we like it, Iraq is central to that fight. We cannot walk away from our strategic interests in the region. Iraq cannot become a staging ground for Islamic extremism or be dominated by other powers in the region, such as Iran and Syria. A premature or precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, without the requisite stability and security, is likely to cause the violence there -- which has decreased substantially but is still present -- to cascade into an even larger humanitarian crisis.
...
Third, the counterinsurgency campaign led by Gen. David Petraeus is the correct approach in Iraq. It is showing promise of success and, if continued, will provide the Iraqi government the opportunities it desperately needs to stabilize its country.
...
Fourth, our strategy in fighting the Long War must address Iran. Much has been made this week of the intelligence judgments that Iran has stopped its weapons program. No matter what, Iran must not be permitted to become a nuclear power. All options should be exhausted before we use military force, but force, nonetheless, should never be off the table.
Well, ummmm, welcome back - I guess. He still hits on some of the same issues he did before - just cut out all the mindless partisanship. For now though, I'm more on the "verify" side of the "trust but verify" side of the house, but am willing to give him a seat. He has left the klatch at VoteVets, so .... no one is perfect. Goldfarb sees it too.

Hat tip Cliff May.

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