Hard to say. What's the price of an American soldier? Five rags? I don't know. But realistically, Bush released over 500 Guantanamo prisoners in return for nothing and we still have 150 of the worst ones in custody. They have squat. Did we really give up that much? You guys kick their asses regularly, go where you want to go, and leave when you are good and ready. They hide where they have to hide and have damn little to show for the misery they have suffered in the last decade. Is this really a "victory" for them or just self-indulgent chest-thumping? They got something, we got something which is how negotiations work, but they are still in deep kimchee. We are not.
I'm just saying that outrage damn sure wasn't expressed here or by any republicans for that matter, but let blackie chan be the president when shit happens and oh the outrage.
Dude, Tillman died from friendly fire and Lynch was captured and we broke her out with the help of friendlies. You are totally off on comparisons. Apples to oranges. Now, if you had said Abu Ghraib you would have an argument. But...Bush Admin did take a lot of heat? Yes it did. Waterboarding at Guantanamo Bay? Yes it did. Invading Iraq? Yes it did. Yes that was by the Democrats and many independents and that is a big reason why the Republicans lost favor to Hope and Change.
When all else fails, invoke Bush. Same old lame tune. You and I aren't following the same war. We most assuredly don't go where we want to go and leave when we are ready. We go where we are allowed to go based on risk and assets, and leave when when it's no longer feasible, not because we want to. That's a big difference. Man, you don't understand how this works. Of course it's a victory for them, it's a huge IO victory. That's what they're after. They aren't stupid, they know they can't match overwhelming strength. They don't give a shit what you or I think, they're trying to maintain and grow. And year after year it works. Look, we killed about (insert number) in our two provinces last year. The unit before us killed about (same number) Guess how many the unit before them killed? You can think it's self indulgent chest thumping all you want. But I've spent enough time over there to know how something like this is used to gain more followers and more support. Misery is subjective. Your definition and their definition of misery aren't the same. They have sacrificed hundreds, if not thousands, of their own just to gain a small IO victory. You would understand this if you knew how painful it is for a unit to close even a small outpost. It is an extremely deliberate process; I'll leave it at that. Put in this context, they got everything they wanted and more. We got a douchebag.
Lasalle my man...the criticism of this move has been broad based. Diane Feinstein liberal D from Ca came out this morning basically calling the president a liar. Editorial boards and columnists of all stripes have condemned the whole deal. There are many times the president has been blasted for political reasons and partisan politics has been extremely rough and nasty for the last 14 years...yes the Ds were as nasty about W as the Rs have been to O. However this time the administration and the president seem to be getting flayed from all sides. In fact the only ones I have heard defending him have been in the administration. The silence of congressional Ds in his defense is deafening.
Who else can you compare presidential actions with but to other presidents? I've invoked Reagan and Clinton, too. The lack of similar outrage for all of the other prisoner releases was my point. Noted. I was thinking more about taking down Mullah Omar's country in 2001 and staying until America is ready to leave. Tactically, you make perfect sense. This is the analysis that I wanted from you. I understand better now. Well, he's our douchebag to deal with. And he wasn't left behind.
