Why the desire to pull the troops out of Iraq in the first place?

*posted first on Friday Feb. 10, here*

In the Australian today:

NO sooner did President Barack Obama welcome home American troops from Iraq and laud that country’s stability and democracy than an unprecedented wave of violence across Baghdad and elsewhere revealed the severity of Iraq’s political crisis.

Unfortunate, yet hardly surprising, even to the most casual of observers.

And whilst I can understand (yet not agree with) the Left’s position not to send troops into Iraq in the first place – an argument, largely moot, for another day – what I don’t understand is their fervish desire to pull the troops out.

It always smacked of idealism, ideology, rather than hard-nosed practicality.

After all, what was so bad with having a US troop presence there to help maintain Iraq’s fragile democratic stability?

One could argue that I am biased because a) I am centre-right politically and b) because I live in South Korea, a nation that has had a US troop presence – some 37,000  28,000 or so currently – since the armistice between North and South Korea and have seen what a permanent US troop presence looks like.

I am happy to accept those labels and can gladly tell you that such a presence ain’t that bad.

By and large,  US bases in Korea – and Japan for that matter – haven’t been a problem.

Sure, issues pop up from time to time, but if one looks at the big picture, then a strong US presence here can only be seen as a good thing, a safe option, a pretty darn good insurance policy against North Korea trying anything major on.

Almost 60 years we’ve had US troops over here without any major problems. In fact, many major problems (a full-scale Nork attack comes to mind) have arguably been averted thanks to this presence.

So, why the rush to leave Iraq essentially free of any US military  before even a decade is up and before, as is clear now, the job is done?

OK, so perhaps it’s a bit like comparing apples and oranges. US troops in Korea, aside from those stationed at the DMZ, aren’t on active duty as they were in Iraq.

However, it’s not a completely dissimilar situation. Perhaps a good analogy would be to compare mandarins and oranges.

US troops not only provided safety and stability in the fledgling democracy that is Iraq – a country still steeped with sectarian and tribal rivalries – but surely they also provided a deterrence to anybody or any groups who want to destabilise the nation.

What takes years to build can take mere seconds to destroy, and I fear a lot of hard work is being undone on the whim of a flawed, feel-good, ideology.

So why?

The only practical reason that I can see for Obama pulling his troops out of Iraq is that with an Iranian confrontation looming which includes action needed in Syria, Iraq frankly isn’t important enough any more or at best, an impractical option for a potentially over-stretched military.

Of course, Obama – a man of the progressive Left – can’t actually come out and say that but it is reasonably well-known to those who don’t just get their news from the MSM that Obama is actually more of a war-time president than Bush was, having committed more troops to both Iraq and Afghanistan, and for a longer period of time.

So whilst the MSM might play along with the “bringing the troops home” narrative, the evidence indicates this simply isn’t the case.

Some 20,000 marines, seamen and air crews from half a dozen countries, a US nuclear aircraft carrier strike group and three US Marine gunship carriers are practicing an attack on a fictitious mechanized enemy division which has invaded its neighbor. It is the largest amphibian exercise seen in the West for a decade, staged to simulate a potential Iranian invasion of an allied Persian Gulf country and a marine landing on the Iranian coast. Based largely on US personnel and hardware, French, British, Italian, Dutch, Australian* and New Zealand military elements are integrated in the drill.
Bold Alligator went into its operational phase Monday, Feb. 6, the same day as a large-scale exercise began in southern Iran opposite the Strait of Hormuz. This simultaneity attests to the preparations for a US-Iranian showdown involving Israel behind the words on Feb. 5 of US President Barack Obama (“I don’t think Israel has decided whether to attack Iran”) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Feb. 3 (“The war itself will be ten times as detrimental to the US.”).

(*BTW, I don’t recall Aussie PM Gillard highlighting that one.)

And this:

As the US and Israel carried on bickering over the right time to strike Iran’s nuclear sites, their war preparations continued apace. debkafile’s military sources report that flight after flight of US warplanes and transports were to be seen this week cutting eastward through the skies of Sinai on their way to Gulf destinations, presumably Saudi Arabia, at a frequency not seen in the Middle East for many years.

Add into this mix reports that China will reportedly help Saudi Arabia build a nuclear bomb, and that both China and India have started paying Iran for its oil in gold thus helping thwart current US/UN sanctions (more of which were recently thwarted by Russia and China), then we see a stage set for a showdown and we see the reality that rhetoric aside, Obama won’t be bringing many troops home at all.

To someone who doesn’t know any better, it’s as if Russia, India, and China – all wannabe first chickens to the trough – are ganging up on America.**

PS Who wouldn’t love to be a fly on the wall listening in to what the US is really saying about China? Their ever-expanding use of soft power is in many ways, stuffing it all up for America. China must surely be becoming an ever-increasing pain in the neck.

This leaves Australia in an interesting position. Our main export partner is China. Our main ally is the US. We send China our goodies to help them get rich and rival America. We practice shooting our guns with America to help keep America on top.

And yet China and America are also so deep in each other’s pockets. America buys China’s goods. China buys America’s debt.

Fun times.

** I highly recommend reading The Lucifer Principle by Howard Bloom. Part of the book talks about the pecking order of nations.

Break a leg, guys

Via somewhere near Des Moines.

Eco-Tards Would Have Us All Drive “Insightfully”

Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson drives the new Honda Insight.

“Much has been written about the Insight, Honda’s new low-priced hybrid. We’ve been told how much carbon dioxide it produces, how its dashboard encourages frugal driving by glowing green when you’re easy on the throttle and how it is the dawn of all things. The beginning of days.

So far, though, you have not been told what it’s like as a car; as a tool for moving you, your friends and your things from place to place.

So here goes. It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn’t have to drive it any more.”

Oh, Jeremy’s just warming up.

“The Honda’s petrol engine is a much-shaved, built-for-economy, low-friction 1.3 that, at full chat, makes a noise worse than someone else’s crying baby on an airliner. It’s worse than the sound of your parachute failing to open. Really, to get an idea of how awful it is, you’d have to sit a dog on a ham slicer.”

Now he’s in full song.

“Because the Honda has two motors, one that runs on petrol and one that runs on batteries, it is more expensive to make than a car that has one. But since the whole point of this car is that it could be sold for less than Toyota’s Smugmobile, the engineers have plainly peeled the suspension components to the bone. The result is a ride that beggars belief.

There’s more. Normally, Hondas feel as though they have been screwed together by eye surgeons. This one, however, feels as if it’s been made from steel so thin, you could read through it. And the seats, finished in pleblon, are designed specifically, it seems, to ruin your skeleton. This is hairy-shirted eco-ism at its very worst.”

Every paragraph is quotable, so you should read the whole enchilada. This is the pain eco-tards want us all to feel.

Another Clarkson classic.

Yes, this is the future of Obamanation Government Motors.

H/T Prof Bainbrigde, which you should also read.

Celebrate Human Achievement Hour! (Al Gore UPDATE!)

To correspond with, “Earth Hour” The Competitive Enterprise Institute has organized Human Achievement Hour. So, when the leftards are turning off all their lights – an hour from now – I’m going to boot up all four computers in the house, connect them all to my AirPort Extreme Base Station, have one monitoring my eMail, one downloading pr0n, one streaming audio, and I’ll surf on the remaining one (The PowerMac G5 2.3 GHz Dual Core/23″ Cinema HD Display model that draws about 250-300 watts of electricity), while watching TV in a window to the right.

Simultaneously, I’m going to turn on every light in the house, turn the thermostat up to 78 degrees, and open every door to the outside so I’m heating the entire neighborhood. Then, I’ll fire up the gas grill in the back yard and grill a couple of steaks.

I HOPE I’m setting a good example for CHANGE.

UPDATE: Evidentally, Al Gore, that champion of Teh Earth, followed my lead and left his tree-illuminating flood lights on during Teh Earth Hour.

“The kicker, though, were the dozen or so floodlights grandly highlighting several trees and illuminating the driveway entrance of Gore’s mansion.

I [kid] [shit – Beef] you not, my friends, the savior of the environment couldn’t be bothered to turn off the gaudy lights that show off his goofy trees.”

I’m only shamed by the fact that Al used more electricity and emitted more carbon than I did during Teh Earth Hour.

Did Obama really think they’d stay?

Corporations move to low-tax Switzerland.

…[A] wave of energy companies has in the last few months announced plans to move to Switzerland — mainly for its appeal as a low-tax corporate domicile that looks relatively likely to stay out of reach of Barack Obama’s tax-seeking administration.

Typical leftard. An eighth-grader in the oval office could have guessed this is what corporations would do if slugged with more hefty taxes. So like every other time in the past leftists have done this, taxes will rise and tax revenue will fall.

Oh dear. This recovery may well take a while.

UPDATE

And it just keeps getting better and better for the economic suicide bomber POTUS.

H/T Insta

European Carbon Markets Collapse, Making it Cheap to Pollute

I’m filled with malevolent joy! Schadenfreude!!! Europe’s carbon markets have collapsed, making dirty old coal cheap to pollute with again!

“Roll up for the great pollution fire sale, the ultimate chance to wreck the climate on the cheap. You sir, over there, from the power company – look at this lovely tonne of freshly made, sulphur-rich carbon dioxide. Last summer it cost an eyewatering €31 to throw up your smokestack, but in our give-away global recession sale, that’s been slashed to a crazy €8.20. Dump plans for the wind turbine! Compare our offer with costly solar energy! At this low, low price you can’t afford not to burn coal!” …

That there exists something called carbon trading is about all that most people know. A few know, too, that Europe has created carbon exchanges, and traders who buy and sell. Few but the professionals, however, know that this market is now failing in its purpose: to edge up the cost of emitting CO2.

The theory sounded fine in the boom years, back when Nicholas Stern described climate change as “the biggest market failure in history” – a market failure to which carbon trading was meant to be a market solution. Instead, it’s bolstering the business case for fossil fuels.”

LULZ! EPIC FAIL!!!

If a green fails in the woods, does it make a sound?

LOL UPDATE: The question should have been, if a carbon-sniffing satellite falls in the ocean, does it make a sound?

“(CNN) — A NASA satellite crashed back to Earth about three minutes after launch early Tuesday, officials said…

“We could not make orbit,” NASA program manager John Brunschwyler said. “Initial indications are the vehicle did not have enough [force] to reach orbit and landed just short of Antarctica in the ocean.”

“Certainly for the science community, it’s a huge disappointment.”

The satellite, which would have monitored greenhouse gases to study how they affect the Earth’s climate, was launched on a rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 1:55 a.m. PT (4:55 a.m. ET)…

The $273 million satellite, called the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, would have collected “precise global measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth’s atmosphere” to help better forecast the changes in carbon dioxide “and the effect that these changes may have on the Earth’s climate.””

Well, the OCO is now the LOCA: Lost Oceanic Clam Attractor. It’s hard not to conclude that God hates climotards, as it is when one ponders all of the icy weather that accompanies Al Gore around the planet.

Thanks, larvatusprodeo

No, seriously. Larvatusprodeo, prominent Australian Left-wing blog, have actually highlighted a very serious problem. Just what would Germany do without its nuclear power? Let alone if they disbanded with their Gaia-raping black and especially brown coal power stations. And despite what all the pundits say, natural gas isn’t ‘clean’, either. Which leaves us with the alternatives. Wind. Solar. Hamsters.

Alternative energy.

Wind power, not only an eyesore and a grind mill for birds, is hopelessly low on efficiency rates thus far, even with a few meager improvements.

Hey. Wind power can work. And it does sometimes. But in a modern society, ‘sometimes’ isn’t good enough. Perhaps later, but not until the turbine mob get their act together… and not at OUR expense.

And you thought 40 bux a barrel was good

Forty a relief? Er, 40 US. That’s about two Euros or 150 Aussie dollars.

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Friday night was the right time to get tanked in the Dutch town of Genderen. An unmanned gas station began offering customers gas for 1 cent per liter (around $0.05 per gallon)…

Bastards.

What’s the point?

Good stuff if you live in a country with cheap electricity (with electricity). The rest of you guys, sorry, but you’ll cause even more global warming so the Left of the West requires for you to live in abject poverty.

Toyota has unveiled a budget priced electric car that can be driven up to 80km without using a drop of petrol, reports Joshua Dowling in Detroit.

Just don’t drive further than that otherwise you’ll need a long extension cord.

The car could be sold in Australia from as little as $20,000 within three years, although this is not yet confirmed.

But who cares? Thanks to Kevin Rudd’s ridiculous Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS/CAPRS), Australia’s main source of cheap energy, coal, is set to become a whole lot more expensive. And we virtually don’t have any nuclear power plants, despite an abundance of uranium – almost a quarter of the entire world’s supply.

Add to that, the car looks horrid and with oil around US$40 a barrel, nowadays, you have a classic example of exactly what futility is.

Remember, this is on top of Rudd giving Toyota thirty five million dollars to help them with hybrid cars.

Just… why give Australian tax dollars to the world’s most successful (and Japanese) car company to help them build hybrids? Why then would that company then concentrate on electric cars (with the hope of them being sold in Australia) when Australia’s electricity, for no good reason, is going to become prohibitively expensive?

This is, at best, lunacy.

JFTR: Cars. And more cars.

McCain’s Perfect Choice for a Running Mate: Governor Sarah Palin

While most of the pedantic, two-dimensional, inside-the-box-thinking, conservative political hacks are touting Tom Ridge for the slot (Not a bad guy, but…), David Freddoso notes a far superior choice has been proposed: The Republican Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.

I believe this is a truly inspired idea. Gov. Palin ran as an anti-corruption outsider, and handily defeated a corrupt and entrenched Republican political machine. Plus, at 44, she would almost totally wipe the “age issue” McCain has off the slate, and since Obama is only two years her senior, there is no way they could attack her for her youth and inexperience: She has much more executive experience than Senator Obama has.

Not to mention the fact that, she’s a gorgeous woman who exudes mass quantities of charisma…

and has a super-solid family life.

Dibs on the eldest daughter! LOL!

This inspired choice would allow McCain to actually capitalize on his “maverick” persona, as Gov. Palin shook Alaska politics to the core: She’s a charming, charismatic woman, but she can also play with the big boys and kick ass.

What say ye?

UPDATE: Things are looking optimistic!

UPDATE II: Welcome to all 4500 8000 40,000 in the past few hours (so far!) people visiting us from Google. We’re a fairly opinionated right-wing blog, and you might like to take a look at our “About” page. You might also be interested in our other coverage of Sarah Palin and whether she becomes a prospective Vice President of the United States. You can find this coverage here and here. Personally, I hope she does, but you can feel free to debate the idea in comments below. All first comments are moderated, but unless you either insult or use severe profanity (and I mean severe by my standards, which generally only means the C U Next Tuesday word or the implication that someone has had a rather enjoyable erotic experience with someone who has borne a child), however if you come up with a new one, I may simply delete your comment. I, and all other contributors to this blog are more than fair in what we permit.

UPDATE III: Nayr Drahcir, don’t bother even trying. You will not be published.

UPDATE IV: A lot of people must like Palin.

UPDATE V: More coverage of Governor Sarah Palin and a theme song here.

UPDATE VI: Funniest observation on the announcement yet: “Put Obama and Palin on a basketball court one on one. Winner takes all!”

UPDATE VII: [spot_the_dog] No, we do not have any pictures of “Sarah Palin + Naked,” nor do we have any of “Sarah Palin + Swimsuit.” In the past 24 hours, there have been 157 separate searches on this site for “Sarah Palin Swimsuit,” and 161 separate searches for “Sarah Palin Naked.” I repeat, we have no bathing suit, swim suit, bikini, or naked pictures of Sarah Palin. What kind of people do you think we are, anyway? 😉

UPDATE VIIa: [spot_the_dog] Ace has noticed a similar search phenomenon on his blog and has a theory…

UPDATE VIII: A well-rounded view of the selection of Sarah Palin for the Vice President Nomination can be found here.

UPDATE IX:  We got it!  YES!  Nude photo of Sarah Palin right here!  (C’mon.  You know you want to click.)

UPDATE X: Feel free to visit our main page and read the latest posts we’ve written.

The failure of US-inspired Capitalism

Today, over at Bolt’s, Paul of Hervey Bay finally let the cat out of the bag and proclaimed, “In my opinion the US political system sucks.”

Three posts down (a screenshot may magically appear later).

Rudd hopes for the end of nasty “extreme capitalism”.

Democrats cheer.

Yep it really sucks. Check this:

BTW. Enjoy your holiday, Barack. Perhaps Grandma will finally read to you the story of the Hare and the Tortoise.

And Now For the Good News: Oil Drops Below $90 per BBL

Oil briefly dropped below $90.00 today.

“Oil prices briefly fell to an eight-month low below $90 a barrel Monday on speculation that the spreading financial crisis will exacerbate a global economic slowdown and cut demand for crude oil.

Significant gains by the U.S. dollar against the euro also contributed to slumping oil prices.”

So, it’s a twofer: Oil drops and the dollar rises.

Why is the Euro so fucked, anyway?

Everything you ever wanted to know…

Could this be the. best. link. ever?

Tons of info on AGW, climate change, energy reserves, Al Gore, polar bears and the like.

It’s not porn but it’s pretty darn good. I’m barred up.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About ANWAR…

…but the Democrats are afraid you’ll ask.

ANWAR in Alaska overlaid on the lower forty-eight states:

Alaska, USA, Coastal Plane

ANWAR is orange, the coastal plain, where we want to drill for the oil we already know it there, is yellow.

Here’s the pic the Democrats and eco-tards (But, I’m being redundant, and am repeating myself) always show to exhibit why we shouldn’t despoil this pristine wilderness:

ANWAR, Glorious ANWAR

Of course, no reasonable American would want to ruin that view with oil rigs. Problem is, this is what the coastal plain looks like:

Desolate ANWAR Coastal Plane

Not only that, but the section of the hundreds of thousands of acres of coastal plain we want to drill on is… a couple of thousand acres.

I say fuck it. Let’s drill the son of a bitch. Someone alert McCain, because he’s an ignoramus about ANWAR.

UPDATE: Plane/Plain. Whatever. English is an idiotic language.

Why I Love Living in Texas and Being a Texan

You have simply got to watch this video of east Texas representative Jeb Hensarling collecting signatures for an energy diversity petition at a gas station in Texas. Hernsarling is one of the very, very few lawyer-politician types I don’t detest: He talks real slow in a cultured Texas drawl like an old fashioned country laywer, and that really puts folks at ease.

I love the elderly fellow who calls Pelosi “nuts” and says, “you can drill in my back yard!” LOL!

Texans rock.

Since we’re showing old vids today…

Christopher Horner.

Challenge to any Lefties who stumble across this. We’ve helped you with that second link. Debate the facts he presents.

Note there are three more parts to that vid.

UPDATE:

Something more recent and timely. An example of what would have to be done to follow Kyoto and where industry may be headed.

Link.

Democrats Throwing Up Scarecrows and Bogeymen. They always do, they’re cowards

So, can we get by without new domestic exploration in previously forbidden locales? While it’s the argument of many Democrats (though cracks are starting to show in their previously firm phalanx against the notion, as we saw in Speaker Pelosi’s desperate escape from Dodge on Friday to avoid a vote or debate), it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.

Al Gore’s goal of ending our dependence on fossil fuels in a decade is a worthy one. But the notion that it is a realistic one is ludicrous, misguided references to Apollo aside. And their mantra that drilling now wouldn’t result in new supplies on the market for ten years is nonsense on stilts, as anyone familiar with the industry would tell you. Existing platforms off the coast of California, dormant for a quarter of century or more, could be producing again within a year or so, and even new ones could bring oil to market in less, often much less, than ten.

Pajamas Media

This absolutely ridiculous argument, the old, tired “ten to fifteen years”, has been used in this nation, for the past 30 years or so. Drilling for our own oil, isn’t the only thing it has been used for…Nuclear Power, is the other.

Yes, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl aided the left in their argument…but the fact remains is that the U.S. has MANY nuke plants up and running, with no, ZERO problems. OUR new technologies and even Russia’s, which was truly frightening, have improved to the point of making nuke power as safe as it can be.

If people are truly frightened concerning “radiation”, I suggest they stop going outdoors…That shiny thing up in the sky, radiates. That nice tan that all want, (I don’t have to worry, I’m protected by a thing called olive oil…well, at least to a certain degree….lol.) is produced by that shiny thing that radiates.

2000 acres in the named ANWR region of millions of acres, will not hurt a damn thing. Offshore drilling, scary huh? There are more damn shark attacks in our oceans and Gulf waters then oil spills and leaks. By the logic used by the left, we should ban sharks, stingrays and the like.

Technology to turn coal, into oil. Nope, can’t do that. China is. China will also be drilling not that damn far off coastal Florida, what happens if that gets screwed? Who will the Left blame? Why of course the U.S., NOT their brethren in ideology, China.

My idea to catch and kill those sharks that just will not listen, is to use Democrats for bait, then kill those sharks, that don’t get it. This includes using all persons connected with PETA. (usually radical Democrats)

Had WE started this, the very first time, someone uttered the old “ten to fifteen years”, this nation would have already been as free as we could be, against those greasy, filthy, rich Islamists and South Americans (that means you, Hugho) that sell oil to us and still preach and act on hatred of America through wars on civilization, in the most cowardly way.

Offshore drilling…What New Yorkers think. Guess which are Obama voters.

Wall Street Journal

Then again…Who cares what New Yorkers think. What 9/11? Check the dude with shades out.

Arctic has 90bn barrels of crude….Gosh, wonder what the enemies of this country, aka Democrats will do to stop any possibilty of drilling.

Bits:

The Arctic holds as much as 90bn barrels of undiscovered oil and has as much undiscovered gas as all the reserves known to exist in Russia, US government scientists have said in the first governmental assessment of the region’s resources.

The report is likely to add impetus to the race among polar nations, such as Russia, the US, Denmark, Norway and Canada, for control of the region.

Last August Russia planted its flag on the seabed 4km under the North Pole raising fears of a rush to grab the Arctic’s mineral resources, particularly its oil and gas deposits. Denmark in May called a summit of the five Arctic powers in Ilulissat, Greenland, to try to restrain competition and reiterate the countries’ joint commitment to the United Nation’s Law of the Sea Convention that governs territorial waters.

Financial Times

MPs to probe speculators as oil touches $146

Concern over the possible role of speculators in driving record crude oil prices has prompted the House of Commons’ Treasury select committee to hold its first hearing into regulation of London’s oil markets, John McFall, the committee’s chairman, said on Thursday.

The development is a sign that the intense political pressure to address – or, at least, be seen to address – the causes of high oil prices are emerging in Britain after initially appearing in the US. In recent weeks, Congress has held multiple hearings on the issue.

Read more at Financial Times