Politics: A new beginning

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Not sure whom I'll support, but anyone knocking Wesley Clark should read this first. From Esquire:

"In August 1995, the general—three stars, working as J-5 for the Joint Chiefs—went to Bosnia as part of the negotiating team Ambassador Richard Holbrooke had put together to end the civil war that had resulted in the massacre of as many as eight thousand Muslim men and boys at the town of Srebrenica the month before. In Belgrade, Clark had met for the first time Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, who was sponsoring the Bosnian Serbs. Now the team had to travel to Sarajevo. Told that the airport in Sarajevo was too dangerous to fly into, the team decided to drive and asked Milosevic to guarantee its safety on a road held by Bosnian Serbs. Milosevic did not, and so the team wound up taking a fortified Humvee and an armored personnel carrier on a pitched, narrow, winding mountain road notoriously vulnerable to Serb machine-gun fire. Clark and Holbrooke went in the Humvee, the rest in the APC. In his book, the general describes what happened this way: "At the end of the first week we had a tragic accident on Mount Igman, near Sarajevo. [Three members of the team] were killed when the French armored personnel carrier in which they were riding broke through the shoulder of the road and tumbled several hundred meters down a steep hillside."

It is not until one reads Holbrooke's book, To End a War, that one finds out that after the APC went off the road, Clark grabbed a rope, anchored it to a tree stump, and rappelled down the mountainside after it, despite the gunfire that the explosion of the APC set off, despite the warnings that the mountainside was heavily mined, despite the rain and the mud, and despite Holbrooke yelling that he couldn't go. It is not until one brings the incident up to the general that one finds out that the burning APC had turned into a kiln, and that Clark stayed with it and aided in the extraction of the bodies; it is not until one meets Wesley Clark that one understands the degree to which he held Milosevic accountable."

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
"Clark grabbed a rope, anchored it to a tree stump, and rappelled down the mountainside after it, despite the gunfire that the explosion of the APC set off, despite the warnings that the mountainside was heavily mined, despite the rain and the mud, and despite Holbrooke yelling that he couldn't go. It is not until one brings the incident up to the general that one finds out that the burning APC had turned into a kiln, and that Clark stayed with it and aided in the extraction of the bodies; it is not until one meets Wesley Clark that one understands the degree to which he held Milosevic accountable."

The Governator could have all that and snapped Milosevic's neck in the third reel.

[SlaveNoMore]

Tyrone_Slothrop
Not sure whom I'll support, but anyone knocking Wesley Clark should read this first. From Esquire:

"In August 1995, the general—three stars, working as J-5 for the Joint Chiefs—went to Bosnia as part of the negotiating team Ambassador Richard Holbrooke had put together to end the civil war that had resulted in the massacre of as many as eight thousand Muslim men and boys at the town of Srebrenica the month before. In Belgrade, Clark had met for the first time Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, who was sponsoring the Bosnian Serbs. Now the team had to travel to Sarajevo. Told that the airport in Sarajevo was too dangerous to fly into, the team decided to drive and asked Milosevic to guarantee its safety on a road held by Bosnian Serbs. Milosevic did not, and so the team wound up taking a fortified Humvee and an armored personnel carrier on a pitched, narrow, winding mountain road notoriously vulnerable to Serb machine-gun fire. Clark and Holbrooke went in the Humvee, the rest in the APC. In his book, the general describes what happened this way: "At the end of the first week we had a tragic accident on Mount Igman, near Sarajevo. [Three members of the team] were killed when the French armored personnel carrier in which they were riding broke through the shoulder of the road and tumbled several hundred meters down a steep hillside."

It is not until one reads Holbrooke's book, To End a War, that one finds out that after the APC went off the road, Clark grabbed a rope, anchored it to a tree stump, and rappelled down the mountainside after it, despite the gunfire that the explosion of the APC set off, despite the warnings that the mountainside was heavily mined, despite the rain and the mud, and despite Holbrooke yelling that he couldn't go. It is not until one brings the incident up to the general that one finds out that the burning APC had turned into a kiln, and that Clark stayed with it and aided in the extraction of the bodies; it is not until one meets Wesley Clark that one understands the degree to which he held Milosevic accountable."

Is this before or after he purportedly tried to start WWIII with the Russians?

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Is this before or after he purportedly tried to start WWIII with the Russians?

After, but before he rescued Halle Berry from that Ice Palace thing.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Is this before or after he purportedly tried to start WWIII with the Russians?

I hadn't heard about that, but if true it's too bad he didn't become a Republican -- he'd breeze through the primaries with that credential.

[Say_hello_for_me]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
I hadn't heard about that, but if true it's too bad he didn't become a Republican -- he'd breeze through the primaries with that credential.

Oh buck up young Ty, Dems are quite capable of almost killing us all. Two words:

Cuban Missile Crisis


Hello

[SlaveNoMore]

Tyrone_Slothrop
I hadn't heard about that, but if true it's too bad he didn't become a Republican -- he'd breeze through the primaries with that credential.

I used that same joke with my friends.

Did he actually become a Democrat yet? Last I heard, he was still an Independent.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Say_hello_for_me
Oh buck up young Ty, Dems are quite capable of almost killing us all. Two words:

Cuban Missile Crisis


Hello

Slave got the joke. But what's your problem with the way things went with Cuba? You've been jonesing on that recently.


Slave: I know Bill O'Reilly is actually a Republican, but I don't know anything about Wesley Clark's affiliation.

[Say_hello_for_me]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
Slave got the joke. But what's your problem with the way things went with Cuba? You've been jonesing on that recently.

Slave may just be pretending. I don't see why anything Republican is the punch line to an "almost started WWIII" credential.

As for Cuba, what exactly went right? The nukes stayed in Cuba til the 90s (or something close like that), at least according to the Soviets. In return for the brinksmanship, we were persuaded to remove our corresponding missiles from Turkey, right?

And that's without even checking to see who put the missiles in Turkey.

So, even based on these simple things, unless the fact that he didn't actually start WWIII justifies the fact that he gave up something real for nothing real in return... you know, one of those ends justifies the means thingies, well, that's my problem with the way things went with Cuba.

Or is this another joke where I can't imagine the punch line?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Say_hello_for_me
Slave may just be pretending. I don't see why anything Republican is the punch line to an "almost started WWIII" credential.

As for Cuba, what exactly went right? The nukes stayed in Cuba til the 90s (or something close like that), at least according to the Soviets. In return for the brinksmanship, we were persuaded to remove our corresponding missiles from Turkey, right?

And that's without even checking to see who put the missiles in Turkey.

So, even based on these simple things, unless the fact that he didn't actually start WWIII justifies the fact that he gave up something real for nothing real in return... you know, one of those ends justifies the means thingies, well, that's my problem with the way things went with Cuba.

Or is this another joke where I can't imagine the punch line?

No, I was serious. But I didn't hear that about the missiles staying in Cuba. When did that come out?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

After another helicopter was shot down today, according to FOX News:

• "The U.S. military swept through Iraqi neighborhoods early Saturday, firing at houses suspected to be harboring hostile forces in the wake of an apparent attack on a Black Hawk helicopter that killed six U.S. soldiers."

I heard something very similar on NPR, which suggested they were using heavy weapons. WTF? They shot up houses in a show of force? This is the way the insurgents win -- by pushing us to do things that turn civilians against us.

[Say_hello_for_me]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
No, I was serious. But I didn't hear that about the missiles staying in Cuba. When did that come out?

Arghhh, the liberal media changed the news on me. After a fairly thorough search for 1/2 hour, it turns out that what remained were a number of tactical nuclear weapons and medium range bombers. Kruschev was so frightened by Castro though, that they were voluntarily withdrawn by the end of '62.

The story came out last year at the 40th anniversary, and I'd swear some Soviet guy said a Soviet missile unit stayed in Cuba for 40 years or something with all the missiles. And something like that was reported, what with the obvious implications.

But it ain't on the internet no more as far as I can see.

Hello

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Say_hello_for_me
Arghhh, the liberal media changed the news on me.

You've got to be careful -- they're tricky like that.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

You can't make shit like this up. William Bennett laments the by-gone days of the Donner Party. According to David Frum (quoted here),

• “Contemporary conservatives still value that old American character. William Bennett in his lectures reads admiringly from an account of the Donner party written by a survivor that tells the story in spare, stoic style. He puts the letter down and asks incredulously, “'Where did those people go?'”

Where did they go? They ate each other. Oh for those long-lost days, though.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
they blew it Post #47

Another outrageous inaccuracy in the CBS Reagan miniseries: Apparently it said nothing about the fact that when she was single, Nancy Davis was known for giving the best head in Hollywood. No wonder I wasn't going to watch it. Not clear why it needs to be on Showtime if they're going to leave this out, though.

Sorry Ty, but the best head part was most accurate*.

Ronald Reagan knew long ago he'd eventually be placed in the White House by a focused cabal of used car salesmen from Van Nuys. His instructions for the 40 and 50's? Get the public to know him from some B-movie work. But he was ambitious, and did even more. He asked Eisenhower what it takes to survive a two term presidency. Ike's answer- "find a wife who not afraid of a little head bob during the day, to relieve the stress of the most important man in the most important country in the world." Ronnie, proposed that night.

So when Ronnie was staring down Gorby, and hoping it'd be Gorby who'd blink, he always knew there'd be a little sumptin' sumptin' back at the ranch. Any sucessful two-termer needs this.

Contrast with Nixon, who married for love, and ended up going slightly batty. And, perhaps most tragically, compare Clinton who married to get him a book-learned co-president. He ended up having to look for the skill in intern- interviews; we all know that blew up on him.

*trust me, I have relatives in Hollywood.