RNC: "USA, USA"

Patriotism and "Country First" have become the theme for John McCain's campaign. Several speakers, including the Republican nominee himself, John McCain, touted the success of the surge in Iraq at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. Amidst chants of "USA, USA," the Iraqi people's suffering was forgotten. In the party-like atmosphere, no one seemed to care about a bad economy or a wasted trillion dollars either. The most unpopular president in American history was even kept at bay by divine intervention: a hurricane.

Reality Check:

Quelling some violence in Iraq does not mean that the war has been won. The surge is working, but that's because the Iraqis themselves want it to work. Does anyone recall the Anbar Awakening?

The War in Iraq is far from over. A sectarian war is looming in the north of the country between Kurds, Turkomans and Arabs (both Sunni & Shiites) over the oil rich area of Kirkuk. Militant Shiite leader, Muqtada al-Sadr is biding his time waiting for the right moment and is currently kept under control only by direct orders from spiritual leader Ayatollah Sistani. However, it will not be long before he decides to take up arms against Maliki's regime that many Iraqis view as an American puppet.

There is something else no one talked about during the Republican National Convention: millions of Iraqi families remain homeless. Iraqi children have been forced into labor to help their devastated families, and many young Iraqi refugee girls have turned to prostitution in countries like Syria and Jordan. This is all because George W. Bush and his supporters decided to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq and not in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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Another Reality Check :

There was no need for a surge had the Bush Administration listened to military experts who encouraged Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld to start with more troops to begin with and not to disband Saddam's army. The insurgency that the U.S. and Iraqi government is fighting today is made up mostly of ex-Saddam army members and a relatively small number of foreign fighters.

Meanwhile, army officials have recently revealed that the suicide rate among US soldiers could surpass last year's record and urged military leaders to increase prevention efforts. There were 62 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers and army reserves called to active duty this year, while another 31 deaths that appear to be suicides are being investigated. 115 members of the armed forces committed suicide last year. When a veteran of the war in Iraq tried to express his objection to the war during McCain's speech on Thursday night, he was rustled outside the convention hall. "USA, USA," they kept on chanting.

Jamal Dajani produces the Mosaic Intelligence Report on Link TV

Comments

[Jon Raymond - Huffpost Blogger]

They chant like Pavlovian mindless brainwashed followers of a false prophet. Nationalism is all they know. Yet McCain gives homage to the global economy. So if you look at the whole package it would appear his foreign policy will be to force countries to deal with the USA on his terms or else he'll blow them all to hell. Screw the rest of the world all they care about is USA USA USA.

Someone should teach these morons the other 23 letters in the alphabet.

[justice2008]

You're absolutely right! McCain has no real energy plan. It's all BS about weaning ourselves from oil. America will consume more oil than ever under McCain but this time US produced oil according to McCain.

[leonardox1]

All what I can say is that No Way Jose. I will not vote for McBush. Or to quote from the expression Bushie Boy screwed up: "Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me."

[michaelis]

USA USA-is this a return to "my way or the highway mindset"?
.AS bush negotiates a timetable out of IRAQ,it looks like it is not his highway anymore....
USA -USA is a very clear call to to continue the isolationist approach to world affairs.
david

[newsjunkie5]

I could not agree with you more. When are we ever going to learn that an isolationist approach is detrimental to the very ideals these "USA, USA" chanting delegates are trying to protect!

[newsjunkie5]

"USA, USA...Country First!" At the expense of everyone else in the world, including the impoverished and homeless women and children. Let's really talk about the Republicans' stance on "family values."

[sugarmoes]

another reality check: there would be no need for the surge if the illegal, ill-advised and unnecessary war had not been started in the first place with an avalanche of premeditated lies.

[jad114]

Bush and his cabal have to be brought to trial to account for the lives lost in Iraq because of their lies.

[dadw5boys]

If you put country first you would never need to take off the Republican hats~~~~~~

[KHAAANNN]

You misunderstand the signs.
What they are doing is asking the McCain campaign to play COUNTRY music FIRST!

[justice2008]

Ha, that's a good one! I don't know but when the chant USA, USA, I cringe. Does this make me unpatriotic?

[RayL]

jingoism n. Extreme nationalism characterized especially by a belligerent foreign policy; chauvinistic patriotism.

[justice2008]

What did you expect? Spin and more spin courtesy from the same people that said that Saddam Hussein had WMDs, the same people that lied about torture and Abu Ghraib and the list is long.Unfortunately, many people still believe them.

[jad114]

Americans have short memory. They"ve forgotten all the lies this Administration has manufactured: the WMDs, Al Qaeda in Iraq and so on. Pathetic!

[JustAnotherJoe]

And when a second protester interrupted McCain's speech, McCain referred to her as mere static - that's all this is to him - mere static. Dangerously out of touch.

[CanadianAmerican]

It's appropriate that Republican delegates would scream 'U-S-A' to smother protest of their murderous policies. They must have learned this tactic from their "leaders".