"We can't kill our way to victory"

General Marie Harf Through History

BY: Sonny Bunch

February 17, 2015 12:20 pm

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf suggested that “we cannot kill our way to victory” against ISIS on MSNBC last night. This flies in the face of literally the entirety of human history, through which, time and again, we have seen people killing other people lead to victory in armed combat.

But her dorm-room philosophizing did get me thinking. What if Marie Harf had access to a time machine? How would she have solved the world’s military conflicts?

Marie Harf at Thermopylae

“This is where we hold them! This is where we discover the root causes for their anger at the western world! This is where we alleviate their poverty and increase their standard of living, thus reducing their desire to wage jihad!”

Advice given to Alexander of Macedon by Marie Harf

“There is nothing impossible to him who will try to reduce the impoverishment of those in other corners of the world.”

Marc Antony, after discussing a forthcoming battle with Marie Harf

“Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of equitable employment opportunities.”

Marie Harf’s draft of the letter Julius Ceasar delivered to the Roman Senate

“I came, I saw, I provided significant social welfare benefits and jobs for the Gauls.”

Marie Harf told Napoleon not to half-ass it

“When you set out to take Vienna, take Vienna. But first, consider providing the Viennese with employment opportunities so as to lessen their agitation and mitigate the need for taking it at all.”

Suggested language for Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman provided by Marie Harf

“This war differs from other wars. We are not fighting armies but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor alike fat with material wealth in order to gain their support.”

Marie Harf Tells Churchill how to rally the British people

“We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall give the Germans vacations on our beaches, we shall give them jobs in our landing grounds, we shall provide them with opportunities to work in our fields and in our streets, we shall give them places to live in the hills. We shall never surrender our commitment to the improvement of life for all!”

Gen. George S. Patton’s adviser Marie Harf on how to win war

“No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by curing poverty in the other poor dumb bastard’s country!”

(A mighty thanks to Andrew Stiles for help with the images.)

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Here is the professional history of two college dorm room philosophers saying the dumbest things. What absurd levels of historical ignorance. They sound like liberal playground monitors. They may think they're serious folk but actually they're just Obamabots.

Harf began her career at the Directorate of Intelligence at the Central Intelligence Agency as an analyst focusing on Middle Eastern leadership issues. She later became the media spokesperson of the CIA.^[3]

During the 2012 presidential election, Harf helped craft President Obama's national security and communications strategy, and also served as campaign spokeswoman on national security issues.^[2][3]

In June 2013, Harf was appointed Deputy Spokesperson for the US State Department, where she currently serves as deputy under Jen Psaki.^[2][3]

On Monday, February 16, 2015, Harf, representing the U.S. State Department, explained that creating jobs were one of many solutions to dealing with the problem of ISIL, saying "We cannot kill our way out of this war. We need in the medium to longer term to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs, whether…. She went on to suggest that the United States government should work with governments in the Middle East to help boost their economies.

Psaki began her career in 2001 with the re-election campaigns of Iowa Democrats Tom Harkin and Tom Vilsack. Psaki then became deputy press secretary for John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. From 2005 to 2006, Psaki served as communications director to U.S. Representative Joseph Crowley and regional press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.^[6]

Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Barack Obama, Psaki served as traveling press secretary.^[6] After Obama won the election, Psaki followed Obama to the White House as Deputy Press Secretary and was promoted to Deputy Communications Director on December 19, 2009.^[7][8] On September 22, 2011, Psaki left that position to become senior vice president and managing director at the Washington, D.C. office of public relations firm Global Strategy Group.^[9][10]

In 2012, Psaki returned to political communications as press secretary for President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.^[11] On February 11, 2013, Psaki became spokesperson for the United States Department of State.^[11] Her hiring at the Department of State fueled speculation that she would likely replace White House Press Secretary Jay Carney when he left the White House,^[12] but on May 30, 2014, it was announced that Josh Earnest would replace Carney.