Monday, March 12, 2007

Surge is working

If you haven't read the Kagan article on Iraq, go read it (via). It's very encouraging. I'm glad that the Iraqi people can start to feel hopeful again.

According to NewsBusters, Ted Koppel had this to say about the war on terror:

* First, Koppel made it clear that America’s premature departure from Iraq would turn the entire Persian Gulf region into a battlefield between Sunnis and Shia, “something the United States cannot allow to happen”
* Second, he said the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are part of the war on terror that “has been going on for the past 24 years” starting when “the precursors of Hezbollah blew up the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon” in 1983
* Finally, he stated that America’s departure from Iraq and Afghanistan, regardless of when it occurs, will not represent the end of this battle, but, instead, that it is just “going to be a different war” after that point.

Good to see someone in media gets it.

And more protesting of Democrats, this time at Pelosi's home in San Fransisco:
A few dozen peace activists marched across the Golden Gate Bridge and gathered outside the San Francisco home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday, demanding that Congress stop funding the war in Iraq.

"San Francisco has been against this war from the very beginning," said Toby Blome, a physical therapist who organized the event. "This is our fifth year of the war, and Nancy needs to wake up and represent San Franciscans."

Blome, holding a plate of cheese and bread and a glass of wine, was stopped on her way to Pelosi's front door and told the Speaker would not see them. Blom and about 10 other activists said they plan to camp outside the residence overnight.


The rally is the most recent "occupation" activists have staged in lawmakers' offices on Capitol Hill and in their home communities. U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel's office in Chicago was targeted on Thursday, and peace activists dressed in pink showed up recently at the Senate offices of presidential hopefuls John McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Other recent protest targets include Reps. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and David Obey of Wisconsin and Sens. Richard Durbin of Illinois and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. All four Democrats voted against the 2002 measure authorizing the war.

On Wednesday, about 20 demonstrators gathered outside Pelosi's San Francisco office -- but before they could enter, a staff member ushered the group down to a conference room seven floors below, where many voiced frustration that Pelosi was not being aggressive enough in seeking an end to the war.

Why would you protest the people who are trying to do what you want? Why not protest the people who won't support Pelosi's efforts to stop the war? The protesters remind me of a two-year-old who throws a tantrum until she gets what she wants.