Iraq War Now Number 7

[Nbadan]

2,264 US soldiers dead in Iraq. US troop death toll surpasses the War of 1812.

http://www.house.gov/ebjohnson/images/iwo-jima-memorial-1.gif
Let freedom reign! (everywhere but here, where we have to surrender our freedoms for safety).

[Oh, Gee!!]

Don't worry, Dan. Bush won't stop until it's number one. USA, USA, USA, USA, USA

[boutons_]

Next milestone will be:

US military lives wasted in Iraq by the Repugs

surpassing

the US civilian lives murdered in the WTC by al Quaida.

And USA is NOT any safer with the Repug Iraq war.

[Vashner]

This is why people join the military. To protect the homeland. And in the last few years NO ONE joined infantry without knowing they would be in harms way.


It's called service with honor.

Something a few of you don't respect or understand.

Stand aside and let the people that want to fight do there job. Living in San Antonio, which is a military city, may not be right for you.

Maybe you would get the fuck out and move to San Fran, New Jersey or Chicago?

Dan you have hit a new low showing the Marines monument and crying about casualties. That's so fucking stupid .... you spend most of your day pissing and spitting on Marines.
http://www.house.gov/ebjohnson/images/iwo-jima-memorial-1.gif

Have a nice day...

[George W Bush]

Stand aside and let the people that want to fight do there job

Hey Vashie,
Speakin' of that lil girly, why haven't
I seen you in Iraq fightin' this war?

Oh, that's right, you only act tuff
and want to send others to do the fightin' for you,
like me.

I like wimps like you Vashie.
We need more people like you in my administration.
We go together like peas and carrots,
that's what my friend Forrest says.

God Bless America :tu

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Dan, I think you're a sick fuck for finding joy in the US death toll.

Fuck you.

[A-Train]

This topic (http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33986) continues to find support in this forum.

[George W Bush]

Dan, I think you're a sick fuck for finding joy in the US death toll.

Fuck you.

There ya go AggieGoofBall,
Spin the issue, that's something me and my administration
is very good at, and we take a deep appreciation for
any sissy boys like you who try to spin things and act tuff
like me, and by the way, we deeply appreciate it.

I'm George W Bush and I approve this message :tu

[Nbadan]

Peaceful Countries (http://www.file83.com/peaceful_countries.wmv)

[gtownspur]

There ya go AggieGoofBall,
Spin the issue, that's something me and my administration
is very good at, and we take a deep appreciation for
any sissy boys like you who try to spin things and act tuff
like me, and by the way, we deeply appreciate it.

I'm George W Bush and I approve this message :tu

You're such an ass clown. But, i got to hand it to you. You're very funny in the same ass clown way.

[Nbadan]

Eyes Wide Open (http://www.afsc.org/iraq/cray-video.htm)

[chode_regulator]

hey dan i dont care if you bitch about the war or the people who have died in the war.
but dont use a memorial that honors those who have died in the same post you are whining about them dying.

[IcemanCometh]

This is why people join the military. To protect the homeland. And in the last few years NO ONE joined infantry without knowing they would be in harms way.

Quite a few of them were "recalled" to active duty long after their tour of service was supposed to be done with.

[Nbadan]

http://www.advance-counseling-denver-boulder.com/human-2.gif
"All the words about noble deaths and sacred blood and honor and such are all put into dead lips by grave
robbers and fakes who have no right to speak for the dead."

Can We Come Home Now?
By Charlie Anderson
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Saturday 11 February 2006


- snip -

Because I was still in the navy, I was able to refer myself to the psychiatry department at the local military hospital and was diagnosed with PTSD. After a year and a half of treatment, I was discharged from the military with disability pay. Doug was not so lucky: he was a National Guardsman and not entitled to care in the regular military system. He had to turn to the Veteran’s Administration, who determined he had a Personality Disorder. A malady which, by definition, exists before a person becomes of military age, and thus, the VA will not compensate for it or treat it. The VA thus would not acknowledge his subsequent PTSD that afflicted him in Iraq. So Doug suffered the demons of war without adequate treatment. He struggled for two years trying to make ends meet, all the while fighting with the VA for the disability benefits he had earned in the sands of Iraq. He drifted from job to job because of his temper or, as he put it, because he had been trained to kill and that was what he knew. Yet, even though our paths were different, we had yet another thing in common. After fighting so hard against the torment of life after warfare, we were both tired. We just wanted our lives back, and Doug knew, as I do, that this can never happen.

Doug and I are not alone. 30% of Iraq veterans have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The divorce rate among Iraq Veterans is very high. Homelessness, unemployment and drug abuse are also on the rise. As Doug put it in an article written shortly before he took his own life, “All is not okay ... for those of us who return home alive and supposedly well. What looks like normalcy and readjustment is only an illusion to be revealed by time and torment. Some soldiers ... will live with permanent scars from horrific events that no one other than those who served will ever understand.”

Doug and I are America’s returned veterans, her sons, left on our own to suffer after the torment of war. I still struggle through life. I often remind myself that I have to bring myself through for my daughter. I force myself to hope that even though my personal finances are in shambles, my marriage destroyed, and nearly everything I once held dear left on the rubbish heap created by this war, this torture cannot last forever. Some days I believe it; on many, I don’t.

Though some may question his actions or his motives, Doug was just one of thousands of the forgotten casualties of the Iraq War. He was killed in action long before he died. On my darkest days, I almost envy Doug, because he had the courage to end his suffering. But in reality, I know that his act was not one of courage, but one born out of the deepest despair. There are hundreds of thousands of Iraq veterans, 150,000 still in Iraq and every one of us is in harm’s way. Doug has gone to rest, but you the citizens of America cannot; you do not have that luxury. While you are tucked safe in your beds, we veterans are still out here in the cold asking, “Can we come home now?”

Truthout (http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021106X.shtml)

[Darrin]

This is why people join the military. To protect the homeland. And in the last few years NO ONE joined infantry without knowing they would be in harms way.


It's called service with honor.

Something a few of you don't respect or understand.

Stand aside and let the people that want to fight do there job. Living in San Antonio, which is a military city, may not be right for you.

Maybe you would get the fuck out and move to San Fran, New Jersey or Chicago?

Dan you have hit a new low showing the Marines monument and crying about casualties. That's so fucking stupid .... you spend most of your day pissing and spitting on Marines.
http://www.house.gov/ebjohnson/images/iwo-jima-memorial-1.gif

Have a nice day...

When you're done descrating me for loving this land, can I have my flag and country back?

I don't see anyone here laughing or dancing over the war in Iraq and the growing body count. What I do see is too few people listening to each other. In this forum, on my street, in my house. I've seen this war. Not on the battlefields or in the strategy meetings, but in a Church tucked in a Detroit suburb, bagpipes blaring as guardsmen fold the flag that draped the casket of a fallen soldier. I've stared into the red eyes of loved ones as they grieve over a lost friend, a lost husband, a lost son. And I wish I could say I was comforted by their sacrfice. On that day, there was only one number that counted - 1.

I don't spit on soldiers as they come home. I have traveled 400 miles one-way by car to allow a wife to see her husband on his two-day leave before being deployed to Iraq. I don't live in a military town per se. I've been touched by this war. This isn't a political stance down an aisle. We haven't served our soldiers. We aren't giving them equipment they need, we didn't give them an enemy they could kill, or a just reason for their sacrfice.

This isn't a stance over two competing ideals. This is an American issue - this war is wrong. How dare your lay claim to monuments, symbols that belong to this country goddamnit - not me or you or anyone else here - this country. How arrogant.

[xrayzebra]

You're such an ass clown. But, i got to hand it to you. You're very funny in the same ass clown way.

Nope he is just playing the part he is. A pimple on GWB dog's a$$. An
irritant, but of little consequence.

[xrayzebra]

Don't worry, Dan. Bush won't stop until it's number one. USA, USA, USA, USA, USA

OG, not sure how to take your post. Bush is doing a very good job of
taking care of this country. And what is wrong with us protecting our
own interest? If you stop to think of what Bush has been accused of
it is a wonder he has gotten anything done. He is supposedly responsible
for everything that has occurred in the past hundred years, all bad. He
had done nothing right. Except he keeps getting elected, well I know
some say there should be a law against people voting for a Republican, but they can be ignored. I'm still trying to figure out how he got that
hurricane to hit NO and why he is blamed for the Mayor and Governor not
doing their job. Hell he even got blamed for the levee breaking.

[George W Bush]

OG, not sure how to take your post. Bush is doing a very good job of
taking care of this country. And what is wrong with us protecting our
own interest? If you stop to think of what Bush has been accused of
it is a wonder he has gotten anything done. He is supposedly responsible
for everything that has occurred in the past hundred years, all bad. He
had done nothing right. Except he keeps getting elected, well I know
some say there should be a law against people voting for a Republican, but they can be ignored. I'm still trying to figure out how he got that
hurricane to hit NO and why he is blamed for the Mayor and Governor not
doing their job. Hell he even got blamed for the levee breaking.

Looky here old horse,

I stole them elections fair and square,
and so what if I knew when the levees broke but denied it,
does that make me a bad president?

I'm George W Bush and I approve this message :tu

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

"All the words about noble deaths and sacred blood and honor and such are all put into dead lips by grave
robbers and fakes who have no right to speak for the dead."

Robbers and fakes = people like Dan, Cindy Sheehan.


What I do see is too few people listening to each other.

I have a sister who is an Army nurse, and was on the front lines in Kosovo and has done a tour of Iraq as well. That would be in harm's way for those of you too stupid to comprehend it.

And I support what we're doing. Why? For starters, because I know enough world history to recognize the bigger issue in all this, instead of some myopic Bush sucks bullshit coming from the left.

Second, her and I trade email on a regular basis, and every once in a while I get a phone call. And I hear about all the good things going on over there, and what's actually happening outside of what we get shoved down our throats by all the liberal media.

And this is coming from a person who has had troops die in her arms, lost friends, etc. But everyone over there believes in what we're doing. They feel that to leave would be wrong and only make AQ stronger.

Sadly, dipshits over here get too caught up in what the liberal media and democraticunderground.com tell them they should be thinking and saying, and miss the point to all of this completely.

Actually the more I think about it the more I wonder why I even bother with this forum. Guys like Dan and boutons have diaper rash of the mouth on here 24/7, and come up with more questionable sources and editorial pieces that they try and pass for truth than Ahmadinijad comes up with trying to discredit the friggin' Holocaust

[Nbadan]

Actually the more I think about it the more I wonder why I even bother with this forum. Guys like Dan and boutons have diaper rash of the mouth on here 24/7, and come up with more questionable sources and editorial pieces that they try and pass for truth than Ahmadinijad comes up with trying to discredit the friggin' Holocaust

Because you, always bring so much here?

[Darrin]

OG, not sure how to take your post. Bush is doing a very good job of
taking care of this country. And what is wrong with us protecting our
own interest? If you stop to think of what Bush has been accused of
it is a wonder he has gotten anything done. He is supposedly responsible
for everything that has occurred in the past hundred years, all bad. He
had done nothing right. Except he keeps getting elected, well I know
some say there should be a law against people voting for a Republican, but they can be ignored. I'm still trying to figure out how he got that
hurricane to hit NO and why he is blamed for the Mayor and Governor not
doing their job. Hell he even got blamed for the levee breaking.

I like the straw man you just built. Too bad it's exactly that, a definition of your enemy to debate against.

George W. Bush is under fire for not coordinating relief efforts in New Orleans AFTER the levees broke. He was still in Crawford, Texas on vacation. They went to bed while people were drowning. Instead of wasting no time, instead of reacting to what the National Weather service said was going to happen, the Department of Homeland Security failed us.

9 billion dollars missing for reconstruction efforts in Iraq. The amount of damage in New Orleans, the funds came from selling American bonds to other nations; more debt. We are 5 months away from another Hurricane season, and the levees haven't been fixed, and Louisiana and Mississippi are still a mess.

If you haven't connected the dots, this war is costing us more money than we can afford. It is putting American interests in more danger, not less. Not because of the soldiers, but because there is new set of propoganda going around - tapes of American soldiers beating Iraqis behind a wall. If Alberto Gonzales can claim that the enemy now knows of our tactics of listening in on their phone conversations, then I can claim that video can be used for recruiting new teenagers.

Because it leaves less funding for domestic programs so tommorrow's next generation is less prepared to compete in a global marketplace.

I suggest picking up a book by Bob Woodward called "Bush at War." In it, Woodward outlines a Bush administration with the intent to invade Iraq before they were even elected. The out-going Secretary of Defense William Cohen, a Republican mind you, outlined to the Bush transition team the main threats to the United States as follows:

1. Al-Qaeda - In the time of the Clinton administration, Osama bin Ladin's Al Qaeda had set off a bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center, killed 800 people with the simultaneous bombings of our embassys in Kenya and Tanzania, and within three months of the briefing, had managed to crash a boat into the side of the USS Cole as it attempted to dock in Yemen. The US had been frustratingly close to nabbing bin Ladin in 1997 and 1999, but somehow he had moved before the military commenced action.

2. Nuclear Proliferation - In the late-1990s, India and Pakistan had successfully joined the nuclear nations, and as early as 1993, North Korea had announced its intention to gain access for a nuclear bomb. The Defense department feared that Iran was pursuing a nuclear bomb.

Secretary of State Madeline Albright had brokered a deal with Kim Jong Il whereas the famine-starved people of North Korea would receive medicine and food, even establish diplomatic ties with the United States, and in exchange, Korea would not pursue a nuclear device, they would shut down their nuclear plant, and UN inspectors would have full access or the aid would stop. With their diplomats visiting the White House after agreeing to uphold the deal, in a grave dishonor, President Bush made a public statemtent pulling out of the agreement saying: "The United States will not be bullied." So a desperate, ecentric leader with a starving populous is attempting to build a nuclear weapon with no intention of protecting his country from its neighbors; he wants to sell it. The Koreans need buying capital to import goods. See number one for why this is so scary.

3. China - Still a Communist nation battling the world over Taiwan, the fastest-growing economy belongs to the Chinese. With an army that eclipses this country's population two-fold, China is seen as the next Superpower in the world. It will be important to maintain strong relations with the Chinese, or stand end-to-end with them in another cold war.

This book also points out that as early as the afternoon of September 11th, Paul Wolfowitz, Under Secretary of Defense, had said "this is our way into Iraq." Colin Powell said that the coaliton would fall apart for Afghanistan if Iraq was included in the orginal response to September 11th, a suggestion of Wolfowitz. Every member of the inner circle agreed that Iraq could wait.

Saddam Hussein had been a thorn in the sides of the US for a long time. But he was not seen as a critical threat. He is, however, seen as a mistake of the first President Bush's administration. An administration that included Colin Powell as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dick Cheney as Secretary of Defense, and Paul Wolfowitz as Assistant Secreatary of Defense.

Bush 41 had called for the Iraqis to rebel, and they had. As a small Kurdish and large Shiite rebel force stormed towards capital, with Saddam withdrawing his forces from Kuwait, and the groud war over, the US soldiers were still in a position to lend military support to the Iraqis. Powell advised the President that the objectives of the war had been achieved and the US should not commit its troops to a nation-building exercise with no foreseeable end. George HW Bush never ordered the support. The Republican Guard killed everyone.

An irate Wolfowitz wrote a new doctrine in the wake of this episode. It painted containment, a policy outlined by Harry S. Truman and practiced by every President since, a relic of the Cold War. Now that the United States stood alone as the only Super Power, the US should shape the world with its own military and economic power. As this policy was being written, someone at the Pentagon leaked it to the press because they felt it alarming. (Source: PBS's Frontline: "The War Behind Closed Doors")

The President was in an election year when this transpires. Bush ordered Cheney to re-write the memo and essentially re-confirm the US's commitment to containment.

This policy that was outlined at the State of the Union in 2002 that called Iran, Iraq, and North Korea an Axis of Evil, is strikingly similar to the Wolfowitz memo. This policy isn't tailor-made to prevent another September 11th. This war was rushed into because from the moment they were elected, it was on the agenda. I agree that the US cannot pull out of Iraq right now because we've created a mess and to pull out now would de-stabilize the region beyond predictability. Iraq would be thrown into a three-sided Civil War, and the US would lose all leverage in the region.

The answer is mutually shared responsibilty. Footing the bill for this in personnel as well as re-building the country is too costly an operation to do alone. But that means that the European allies will need to share in financial fruit of the country as well, and that's what stops the Bush administration from partnering with anyone.

I couldn't vote in 2000 because I was too young, but I did support President Bush. It's the President and his decisions that have made a zealot out of me, not an inherited political philosophy.

[gtownspur]

^^your post about reagan was reeking with political philosophy, and i doubt you did support bush. He was for Reaganomic style taxcuts, something you abhorred.

[Darrin]

^^your post about reagan was reeking with political philosophy, and i doubt you did support bush. He was for Reaganomic style taxcuts, something you abhorred.

Criticism does not equal Rhetoric. Haven't you heard the saying: "No zealot like a convert?"


L:One of you is about to be elected the leader of the single-most powerful nation in the world, economically, financially, militarily, diplomatically, you name it. Have you formed any guiding principles for exercising this enormous power?

B: I have, I have. First question is what's in the best interests of the United States? What's in the best interests of our people? When it comes to foreign policy that will be my guiding question. Is it in our nation's interests? Peace in the Middle East is in our nation's interests. Having a hemisphere that is free for trade and peaceful is in our nation's interests. Strong relations in Europe is in our nation's interest. I've thought a lot about what it means to be the president. I also understand that an administration is not one person, but an administration is dedicated citizens who are called by the president to serve the country, to serve a cause greater than self, and so I've thought about an administration of people who represent all America, but people who understand my compassionate and conservative philosophy. I haven't started naming names except for one person, and that's Mr. Richard Cheney who I thought did a great job the other night. He's a vice presidential nominee who represents -- I think people got to see why I picked him. He's man of solid judgment and he's going to be a person to stand by my side. One of the things I've done in Texas is I've been able to put together a good team of people. I've been able to set clear goals. The goals ought to be an education system that leaves no child behind, Medicare for our seniors, a Social Security system that's safe and secure, foreign policy that's in our nation's interest, and a strong military, and then bring people together to achieve those goals. That's what a Chief Executive Officer does. So I've thought long and hard about the honor of being the President of the United States.

L: Should the people of the world look at the United States, Governor, and say, should they fear us, should they welcome our involvement, should they see us as a friend, everybody in the world? How would you project us around the world, as president?

B: Well, I think they ought to look at us as a country that understands freedom where it doesn't matter who you are or how you're raised or where you're from, that you can succeed. I don't think they'll look at us with envy. It really depends upon how our nation conducts itself in foreign policy. If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us. If we're a humble nation, but strong, they'll welcome us. And it's -- our nation stands alone right now in the world in terms of power, and that's why we have to be humble. And yet project strength in a way that promotes freedom. So I don't think they ought to look at us in any way other than what we are. We're a freedom-loving nation and if we're an arrogant nation they'll view us that way, but if we're a humble nation they'll respect us.

L: Does that give us -- does our wealth, our good economy, our power, bring with it special obligations to the rest of the world?

B: Yes, it does. Take, for example, Third World debt. I think we ought to be forgiving Third World debt under certain conditions. I think, for example, if we're convinced that a Third World country that's got a lot of debt would reform itself, that the money wouldn't go into the hands of a few but would go to help people, I think it makes sense for us to use our wealth in that way, or to trade debt for valuable rain forest lands, makes that much sense, yes. We do have an obligation, but we can't be all things to all people. We can help build coalitions but we can't put our troops all around the world. We can lend money but we have to do it wisely. We shouldn't be lending money to corrupt officials.

9 Billion missing in Iraq. COALITION BUILDING?!


MODERATOR: So what would you say, Governor, that somebody would say hey wait a minute, why not Africa, I mean why the Middle East, why the Balkans, but not Africa, when 600,000 people's lives are at risk?

BUSH: Well, I understand, and Africa is important. And we've got to do a lot of work in Africa to promote democracy and trade, and there are some -- Vice President mentioned Nigeria is a fledgling democracy. We have to work with Nigeria. That's an important continent. But there's got to be priorities, and Middle East is a priority for a lot of reasons, as is Europe and the Far East, our own hemisphere. And those are my four top priorities should I be the president, not to say we won't be engaged nor work hard to get other nations to come together to prevent atrocity. I thought the best example of a way to handle the situation was East Timor when we provided logistical support to the Australians, support that only we can provide. I thought that was a good model. But we can't be all things to all people in the world, Jim. And I think that's where maybe the vice president and I begin to have some differences. I'm worried about overcommitting our military around the world.[b] I want to be judicious in its use. You mentioned Haiti. I wouldn't have sent troops to Haiti. I didn't think it was a mission worthwhile. It was a nation building mission, and it was not very successful. [b]It cost us billions, a couple billions of dollars, and I'm not so sure democracy is any better off in Haiti than it was before.

MODERATOR: You said in the Boston debate, Governor, on this issue of nation building, that the United States military is overextended now. Where is it overextended? Where are there U.S. military that you would bring home if you become president?

BUSH: First let me just say one comment about what the vice president said. I think one of the lessons in between World War I and World War II is we let our military atrophy. And we can't do that. We've got to rebuild our military. But one of the problems we have in the military is we're in a lot of places around the world. And I mentioned one, and that's the Balkans. I would very much like to get our troops out of there. I recognize we can't do it now, nor do I advocate an immediate withdrawal. That would be an abrogation of our agreement with NATO. No one is suggesting that. But I think it ought to be one of our priorities to work with our European friends to convince them to put troops on the ground.

MODERATOR: The use of the military, there -- some people are now suggesting that if you don't want to use the military to maintain the peace, to do the civil thing, is it time to consider a civil force of some kind that comes in after the military that builds nations or all of that? Is that on your radar screen?

BUSH: I don't think so. I think what we need to do is convince people who live in the lands they live in to build the nations. Maybe I'm missing something here. I mean, we're going to have kind of a nation building core from America? Absolutely not. Our military is meant to fight and win war. That's what it's meant to do. And when it gets overextended, morale drops. I strongly believe we need to have a military presence in the peninsula, not only to keep the peace in the peninsula, but to keep regional stability. And I strongly believe we need to keep a presence in NATO, but I'm going to be judicious as to how to use the military. It needs to be in our vital interest, the mission needs to be clear, and the extra strategy obvious.

My views changed very little in terms of foreign policy, his on the other hand? He stopped listening to Colin Powell, and started listening to the Neocons.

Morality in the White House, a Uniter, not a Divider, an outsider to Washington deadlock, a moderate conservative - I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. More than any other man, he is responsible for my membership in the Democratic Party. In 3 years, I went from conservative independant to liberal democrat. I guess you could call me a "flip-flopper." But then again, Reagan was a Democrat at one point. I guess he was just "enlightened."

http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2000b.html

[xrayzebra]

^^peace in the Middle East. How do you propose doing that? Tell them we
are sorry, bring the troops home and let Saddam out of jail? Worked in the past
didn't it. Like when they first tried to bring down the WTC and blew up our
embassies. Clinton came close to catching OBL, LOL, he was offered him on a
silver platter and turn the offer down.

[Darrin]

^^peace in the Middle East. How do you propose doing that? Tell them we
are sorry, bring the troops home and let Saddam out of jail? Worked in the past
didn't it. Like when they first tried to bring down the WTC and blew up our
embassies. Clinton came close to catching OBL, LOL, he was offered him on a
silver platter and turn the offer down.

Very clever. So in order to be in favor of peace in the Middle East, a region of roughly 14 contries, I have to support a war in Iraq? And if I don't support the war, I have to be an abandonist as my nuts shrivel, right?

And what did Iraq have to do with September 11th? If we were truly going after the terrorists, why wouldn't Saudi Arabia, home to 17 of the 18 hijakers, and the so-called "20th hijaker?" The history that the Bush family has with the Saudi royal family, at best, looks like a major conflict of interest.

What I do know is that when Christianity became a political force in Europe, there was a quest for one, true religion to emerge. I know that Christian governments attempted to kill anyone who believe differently. I know this country's ruling class was founded on the backs of religiously persecuted prodestants in Western Europe.

I realize that similar conditions are taking place in the Middle East today. I know that a military incursion by the "infidels" and a President who uses Christian rhetoric in public statements gives this twisted version a Islam what it has been craving - a holy war. And when Americans are fighting to secure peace from terrorism and our enemy is looking to wipe out evil, one side is more committed than another. I know how the offensive fronts of the Cold War - namely Vietnam and North Korea - ultimately cost the United States more than it yielded peaceful fruit.

Saddam is out of power. Thank merciful God - he was a thorn in the sides of the Americans. However, he was not a Clear and Present Danger to the security of the United States of America. George W. Bush is not the elected representative of the Republic of Iraq. If he wants to actively and agressively pursue ways of removing Saddam with the world's support, then I have no problem with that. But by deputizing America as the defender of freedom around the world, and the only weapon we have towards that cause is the United States military forces, that's where I have a problem. We can't be all things to all people - at best it's a noble idea and a mis-guided policy.

We have domestic problems that are neglected because of trying to solve the world's problems. We have roads, schools, and cities that are falling down. He's not the elected offical of the Republic of Iraq. He is supposed to serve our interests just as Jennifer Granholm isn't responsible for the concerns of the state of the state of Texas. Does that mean that Michigan never does business with the Longhorn state, or doesn't help out in times of need - No. But it means the majority of Granholm's day isn't devoted to protecting her state from a Hurricane or securing the Mexican/American border or any of the concerns of Houston or Fort Worth that aren't on the federal level.

And when the state of Michigan sends aid to Texas, it is through federal programs such as the Red Cross or Department of Homeland Security. Imagine trying to fix Texas' problems with the Michigan budget. It doesn't work.

And what about the other dicators around the world? Where is his interest in the ethic cleansing or genocide that is plaguing the continent of Africa? If this is truly the noble cause he says it is, there's some hypocrisy in his policy.

A free and stable Iraq is something to hope for. However, if history is any teacher, it's that the regimes we have annointed in the region, have not been long-standing allies.

Meanwhile, the Islamic fanatics have their jihad, and their number one recruiting tool is that "the infidels took the Iraqi capitol like a hot knife through butter, your country is next." This is turning moderates into fanatics.

There is not great Marshall Plan. There has been little to no plan for reconstruction. Everything is costing more than expected in lives and money, the United States is doing this essentially alone, and all were doing is taking a baseball bat to the wasps nest in the hopes that we can get all them bees out of there cove so they won't come in the house again.

This has nothing to do with the soldiers. The machine isn't the problem, it's the man at the controls.