“Not symbolic” Ramadi

| April 20, 2015

Dempsey meme

The other day, while speaking to Congress, Joints Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey told the legislators that the fall of the Iraqi city, Ramadi to ISIS fighters, is “not symbolic in any way”. I wonder if General Dempsey realizes that he sounds just like Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, or as he’s more popularly known in this country, Baghdad Bob. That kind of rhetoric is commonly referred to as “sour grapes”.

Every loss of every city in Iraq to ISIS is symbolic. It’s certainly going to be used as a recruiting tool by ISIS, if nothing else rises to the level of “symbolic”.

Well, Dempsey certainly pissed off our buddy, Debbie Lee, the Gold Star Mother of a SEAL killed in Ramadi in 2006;

I am shaking and tears are flowing down my cheeks as I watch the news and listen to the insensitive, pain inflicting comments made by you in regards to the fall of Ramadi.

“The city itself is not symbolic in any way”? Oh, really? Are you willing to meet with me and with the families who have lost a son, daughter, husband, wife, father, mother, aunt, uncle, grandson, or teammate?

I know Dempsey was trying to say that the fall of that city wasn’t strategically important, but he made a poor choice of words. It was certainly symbolic to ISIS and it’s symbolic in that the strategy of this administration in this war against ISIS doesn’t seem to be working if the Islamic State can muster enough military force to take a city.

By the way, a few thousand Iraqis thought it was symbolic enough to leave the city and become someone’s refugee problem.

Category: Terror War

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A Proud Infidel®™

“…is not symbolic in any way.”

Spoken like a loyal 0bamanista!

TankBoy

Doing what you have to do to retire in the Obama military. hey, but at least all of the Soldiers are happy, right?

Richard

Any guesses on when Martin Dempsey WILL retire? I think that a competent (or conscious) President would dismiss him out of hand.

MustangCryppie

I thank God every day that my retirement does NOT have that clown’s name on it.

MustangCryppie

retirement CERTIFICATE, of course.

Sheesh!

QM1

I think that I’m starting to become numb to all of the obscene and unbelievable statements that come from the top brass and administration officials on a daily basis now. Maybe that’s there plan all along. Do enough dumb crap to the point where people don’t even notice it anymore.

3E9

Agreed; I used to be surprised but now I’m desensitized to it for the most part. Idiocy from the top down.

Atkron

I hope and pray that when the next POTUS takes office he brings General Mathis back on Active Duty and gives him the Chairman Job.

We need him….bad.

isnala

Better yet just make him SecDef.

Gina

^^^ This. PROVIDED, said POTUS has the balls to let Gen Mattis use HIS, otherwise don’t waste his time.

OldSoldier54

Yep.

Joe

I think Atkron meant “Mad Dog Mattis” – he was the general who made the politically incorrect statement that shooting terrorists is sort of fun. Like target practice.

Atkron

Yes, that’s whom I was referring to…as far as I’m concerned he’s the next incarnation of General George Patton.

M.Christian

Mad Dog would take care of business in an instant. One of the greatest men that ever lived. The damn grass would grow like weeds, thats for sure.

LastBrotherHome

Sorry, but its proximity to Baghdad is in some ways more of a loss than Mosul was. But, lets not worry about looking at facts now, as that just won’t do.

Veritas Omnia Vincit

Anything that grows the Caliphate diminishes the legitimacy of whatever chance Iraq has at being a unified nation of three disparate tribes. Bush had the surge to suppress the jihadis and it was clear that more troops works in suppressing the insurrectionists. The reality that wasn’t learned was simply this, that’s how Saddam ruled that nation with lots of men in uniform and an iron fist. Unfortunately there is no quick escape from Iraq if we are to have any hope of making a unified nation. Without a strong army to maintain the peace and stability Iraq can only descend into chaos and dismantle itself into its three separate tribal parts. Under Saddam there was no sense of unity only an avoidance of force through subservience. Under the US there was still no sense of unity of purpose among the three tribes only a hope that there could be something different, and that hope was more among Amercans than Iraqis. Without a stabilizing force there will be no Iraq. With people like Dempsey unwilling to admit that the loss of Ramadi from the perspective of a unified Iraq is a significant issue there remains little realistic expectation for any post conflict unified Iraq. Who here believes that Iraq will self sustain in the absence of 100,000 US troops? Without an opportunity to have 20 or 30 years of learning to actually live together and share power Iraq is doomed, and we doomed it from the first day of the invasion. I’ve said this dozens and dozens of times. Anyone thinking that Iraq would become a unified nation after regime destruction without a couple of generations of US occupation was a fucking idiot and a liar if they told other stories to the public. Dempsey is the good news fairy, but reality dictates we need an honest leader somewhere in the government to tell the truth. Ramadi strategically unimportant? Sure, but what’s the overall strategy that wins it back without US troops? A few thousand advisers won’t strategically alter the long game outcome and ISIS and every other bad actor knows… Read more »

AW1Ed

True, but it sure puts in perspective the regard the Perfumed Princes have for the mere mortal troops they “command.” Won’t say “lead.”

3E9

I believe Gen. Powell said something along the lines of “we can’t expect just because we topple the regime there will suddenly be an outbreak of Jeffersonian democracy.” I’m sure I butchered the quote but that was the gist of it.

OldSoldier54

I remember that.

OldSoldier54

“Without a stabilizing force there will be no Iraq.”

Sadly, I must agree. I figured that it would take a generation to instill the values needed to ensure a viable Democracy, both in the civilian side, as well as the military.

Short of Divine intervention, I just don’t see that happening.

Hayabusa

Dempsey is a lightweight empty suit. He does whatever his political masters tell him, and must wear out a new set of kneepads every couple of weeks. Mustn’t do anything controversial that might piss off the politicians and jeopardize those lucrative post-retirement private sector jobs with the Beltway Bandits…

Poetrooper

How fitting it is that the worst president in the history of the nation should select the worst chairman of the joint chiefs to ever serve.

Back before the 2008 election, I was arguing with my California brother, who had partaken of the Kool Aid, that Obama had no executive experience. His response was that Obama could and would offset that by surrounding himself with the right people. And my response to that was that, with no executive experience, how would he be able to recognize the right people? My unicorn mounted brother responded airily, “Oh you’ll see.”

Nowadays my brother is the one who sees, and recognizes that he was sold a complete bill of goods by the Democrat party, unlike that lib, LC, who posted here yesterday

Richard

Birds or a feather …

OldSoldier54

I very often wear camo garments, doing chores or whatever. I do it to remind myself to pray always for our young people on the sharp end.

And to protect the Military from our Government. Isn’t that … strange?

Sparks

So let me see if I have my geography correct.
Ramadi to Falluja…about 35 miles.
Falluja to Baghdad…about 46 miles.

Total about 81 miles.

So does anyone else think these ISIS fighters are more than just the uncoordinated numb skulls the Administration would have us believe? You know, the easy push overs if we could just get them to sit down and “dialog” with Kerry.

I said it a couple of years ago and I believe it now more than ever. Baghdad is the ultimate ISIS goalpost. A beeline to the American Embassy and then we’ll have a Tehran 1979 all over again. Why do they want to do this ASAP? Because they know as long as Obama is the Do Nothing In Chief, it will be better dealings for them than Jimmy Carter was. Then we can only hope, pray and wish for a STRONG Republican conservative in 2016. Of course unlike Ayatollah Khomeini in ’79, ISIS will murder by beheading, shooting or the pre-wired bombing of the embassy, every American before January 20, 2017. If Hillary should some how get elected,(I just threw up in my mouth.) we can kiss Iraq, Afghanistan and America goodbye. Because Israel WILL, with or without our blessing, defend themselves from Iran becoming a nuclear power. They just will not allow it. And despite the rhetoric I’ve heard, true or untrue, of Obama ordering our air craft to engage and stop by any means, Israeli war planes heading for Iran, then win, lose or draw, Israel will shoot back. It would be a sad situation and the end to a long time coalition with the only like minded nation we have had in the Mid East. And of course, the Mid East as we know it, would cease to exist.

Veritas Omnia Vincit

The JV team was what they were called right? Except sometimes, like what happened to me, the senior varsity starter gets hurt and you end up being promoted from JV to varsity as a freshman and never ever lose the starting job after that….

This JV team has learned how to exploit the inherent issues of the Iraqi army and is doing quite well facing their third world opponents…perhaps it’s time to bring in some pro level players and straighten these JV turned Varsity chumps how it’s done.

OldSoldier54

And send every last murdering son-of-Shaitan one of them to their Reward.

I’d give a lot to be there when they see who their real Father is. That stunned, horrified look would be priceless.

The Other Whitey

What’s old Baghdad Bob up to these days? I would have guessed he probably found a job as a speechwriter for the current administration. If so, it’s a waste. He really missed his calling in stand-up comedy.

Perry Gaskill

There was a report at the end of last year that he was in a UAE hospital with a terminal illness.

I always liked Baghdad Bob in a strange twisted kinda way. He could be doing a stand-up with bombs falling in the background, and say with perfect sincerity:

“No enemy *BOOM* warplanes will invade *BOOM* Iraqi airspace.”

It was a gift. He could have made a fortune selling used cars.

A Proud Infidel®™

Or he’d have fit right in as a demorat politician!

Richard

It works because Bob had his own personal definition for words like yes, no, is, not, warplane, invade, enemy, and airspace.

Those of you who have survived your children’s teen-aged years will recognize this behavior.

“Young lady you will be home by 10 PM!”

“In what time zone?” she mumbled under her breath.

That was Bob’s problem, he had no adult supervision.

2/17 Air Cav

This is just despicable. Dumper.

OldSoldier54

Dempsey, Dempsey, Dempsey. How in Heaven’s Name did you EVER get stars!!??

I think I have a pet rock with a higher IQ.

Skippy

I don’t know where to start. But I’ll say this much. Some of us knew it was only a matter of time before it fell apart. No big surprise here, as far as leadership goes remember these are the same people that said there was. then wasn’t any Chem or Bio weapons to be found in Iraq. well after many years of being called Crazy and weird, I feel vindicated. I guess I’m not crazy anymore

2/17 Air Cav

I probably should be more patient than this and await a likely new thread regarding the update on this story, but I suck and lack self discipline. So, Dumper apologized to Debbie and all Gold Star families for his callous, ill chosen, and stupid remarks regarding Ramadi. He, of course, omitted from that forced apology the inclusion of all who fought there and were non-fatally wounded there. More important, however, was Debbie’s inspired reaction to the apology. If you didn’t see it or hear it, here’s a link: http://video.foxnews.com/v/4186511584001/mom-of-first-navy-seal-killed-in-iraq-on-dempseys-apology/?#sp=show-clips

RayRaytheSBS

I was in Ramadi during the second battle of Ramadi, and I can tell you Mr. Dempsey, that YES Ramadi is symbolic. It was the hotbed of Sunni Resistance during May-August 2006 and Al-Zarqawi was running amok.

Marc Lee and Michael Monsoor lost their lives there, along with many of my bretheren from 1AD and 1st MEF. You’d remember that if you’d been present with the Division at that time.

Ramadi is symbolic, as it is the CAPITAL of Al-Anbar province. Your advice to the Iraqis was to secure the Beiji Oil refinery as a more strategic objective, and they still haven’t done that.

Just remember sir, your soldiers watch the news, and we don’t forget.