Taking Iraq was never about terrorism. To argue the war on the basis of terrorism is to score one for the terrorists. Because while we argue, they're doing push-ups.
It's so easy to forget, it bears repeating: Taking Iraq was never about terrorism, never about American security, 9/11, al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, or the disruption of future terrorist plots against America.
Iraq is about real estate and spoils. Iraq is NOT about spreading "democracy," unless democracy is defined as "winking capitalism."
Does anyone dispute the enormous disadvantage of our military now that Iraq devolves to civil war? Ironically, it's quite easy to pick out from the crowd a guy in camouflage.
If you want to take a country, you send the military. If you want to defeat a terror cell, you infiltrate and defeat it from within.
The reason America's military is so ineffective is because our president has misunderstood its proper use. Worse, nobody's told him no, which is this is the real crime. The Congress was lied to by the president, who hijacked the military. We marched into Baghdad and took it. Bush declared the war over, then talked of winning the peace, which sounded reasonable to most, but then he needed $87 billion for the first year. And Congress, for God knows what reason, thought they had to make a quick decision. It became a race. In record time, without debate of the consequences, Congress said yes.
Congress made Americans complicit. This is why the "left" is screaming bloody murder now. They should have screamed when Bush was in his flight suit on the boat. But they were distracted by the silly costume and the "Mission Accomplished" sign that Karl Rove recently said he regretted — once again — and reminded us that it was a banner commemorating the boat's 40th mission, a claim that was disproved shortly after he said it the first time.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Jim Carruthers
Maybe rejiggering your Presidential election system so it only appeals to power-mad fools with more money than brains would be a first step. For the past 40 years, the position of president has been bought. Why not have a system which relies on consensus such as a parliament and a monarch as head of state?
2 - Jim Carruthers
I meant to say, "so it doesn't appeal ..."
Damn not being able to edit comments.
3 - Marc
Lie: "Bush declared the war over"
Fact: He declared an "end to hostilities."
Lie: "he needed $87 billion for the first year"
Fact: only 20 million was for Iraq, 67 million went to the ongoing Afganistan campaign.
Question: you state, "And Congress, for God knows what reason" approved the 87 million. Didn't you already provide the answer for this? BUSH LIED!
Lie: "it's quite easy it is[sic] to pick out from the crowd a guy in camouflage."
While this is not exactly a lie, at best its disingenuous. Given that the casualty rate is about 100 Islamofacists to one US military member I tend to believe its not so easy to pick them out of the crowd.
"The Congress was lied to by the president, who hijacked the military."
The Left apologists continue to use this as cover for their own failings and misdirect attention from the laundry list of other countries and the UN that all agreed that Saddam was worth taking out.
And about that phrase, "hijacked the military." That's just a little over wrought isn't it? Just how was this accomplished? Did Bush barge thru the Joint Chiefs of Staff door in full battle gear, assault rifle, gas mask, and ziplock handcuffs at the ready?
I must admit, I read an enormous number of both left and right leaning Blogs and news sources. But you are one of the very few that still hold on to the "Bush Lied" dogma. Almost like Linus's blanket, you cuddle it like it will save you from all the green meanies of the world. Take pride in being one of the last holdouts, and sleep tight with your warm little "blanky."
4 - Taloran
So Marc unapologetically changes the B in Billion to an M, three times, when talking about war costs. Sounds very Republican to me.
5 - Jim Carruthers
Good to know "murrican bully boys still have use of their Fact:Lie facilities.
Maybe if you spent any time looking at what your careless administration / closet government (amusing how you keep up the charade that government and administration and power is totally separate) is doing, and consider how you appear to the rest of the world ... oh, why am I wasting my time talking to morons.
6 - CW Fisher
Marc: Thank you. The scales have fallen from my eyes. You're so right. Nobody says Bush lies anymore. It's so March. And you're right about the blanky thing, much as I hate to admit it. I do like my blanky. Mainly I'm so sick of lying to the Republican readers. I sound like a Democrat, don't I? All accusations and no facts. Even knowing I'm the worst of a bad lot is no comfort. Do you win all your debates, or am I just easy? XXOO Curt
7 - CW Fisher
Jim: What happened? You got all huffy all of a sudden. Was it something I said? You know, my parents are morons, but they're good people. I inherited some moronic qualities myself. It makes television easier to understand. Are you an American yourself, or do you come from somewhere with a monarch and a parliament? Reason I ask is that it's an odd suggestion. Not a bad idea, just odd for this country. To your statement that it's "amusing how you keep up the charade that government and administration and power is totally separate," you may be referring to the separation powers of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. These really are separate -- it's no charade. But I suspect you were probably making a different point before you got frustrated.
Hey, I relate. It's a cantankerous environment, earth is. These days anyway.
8 - Nick Jones
Anyone else as tired of the monolithic THE as I am? THE left: as if Howard Zinn, Malcolm X, and The SLA all shared the same beliefs, thinking, agenda, and tactics. It's like if I conflated William F. Buckley, Jr., Bob Dole, and Benito Mussolini...not that SOME on the Left haven't done so (stop that, My Comrades). THE Left, THE Right, THE blacks, THE whites, THE Jews, THE Muslims, THE Socialists, THE Communists, THE capitalists...it's dehumanizing, dishonest, disingenuous, and intellectually lazy. Of course, if you can't or won't be bothered to take your opponent and his or her ideas seriously and argue your point accordingly, it's so much easier to turn them into a faceless cypher and fire away.
9 - Hal Pawluk
Marc: Lie: "Bush declared the war over" Fact: He declared an "end to hostilities."
Richard Perle, the Prince of Darkness himself, says you're wrong, Marc.
On May 2, 2003 the day after President Bush declared the war was over, here's what Perle had to say, from the official State Department site:
Perle was as wrong as all the right-wing extremists (some of whom, like David Brooks, are now running for cover).
10 - Mac Diva
LOL @ Jim. He cuts us no slack in regard to the political mess we're in. And, he's right. Change the outcome of the 2000 election and we wouldn't be increasingly mired in Iraq. Yes, 9/11 might still have happened. But, the current consequences would not have.
Jim is a Canadian (like most thoughtful people?), Curt.
11 - Jim Carruthers
Uhm, I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, I didn't do anything.
12 - CW Fisher
So Jim's a Canadian, is he? Thank you, Ms. Diva. I'll take it from here. A Canadian, eh? OK... I can respect that. I can envy that. I could go for some of that myself, except you guys are too smart to let in people like me and my fellow moron 'Murricans, as you call us. Damn! What do you say to a Canadian? Jim. Do me a favor. Pretend you're a Democrat. Or a Republican, doesn't matter. Just give me some kind of surface to slap and I'm all over you.
13 - Shark
Curt,
Two words:
Beer.
Hockey.
(Sic 'em!)
14 - Bernard
...Nurds on the left. Nurds on the right
Religous fanatics on the air every night
Sayin' the Bible tells the story
Makes the details sound real gory
'Bout what to do if the geeks over there
Don't believe in the book we got over here
You can't run a race without no feet
'N pretty soon there won't be no street
For dummies to jog on or doggies to dog on
Religous fanatics can make it be all gone
(I mean it won't blow up 'n disappear
It'll just look ugly for a thousand years...)
You can't run a country by a book of religion
Not by a heap or a lump or a smidgeon
Of foolish rules of ancient date
Designed to make you all feel great
While you fold, spindle and mutilate
Those unbelievers from a neighboring state
TO ARMS! TO ARMS! Hooray! That's great
Two legs ain't bad unless there's a crate
They ship the parts to mama in
For souvenirs: two ears
Not his, not hers, but what the hey?
The Good Book says: "It's gotta be that way!"
But their book says: "REVENGE THE CRUSADES...
With whips 'n chains 'n hand grenades..."
TWO ARMS? TWO ARMS? Have another and another
Our God says: "There ain't no other!"
Our God says "It's all okay!"
Our God says "This is the way!"
It says in the book: "Burn 'n destroy...
'n repent, 'n redeem 'n revenge, 'n deploy
'n rumble thee forth to the land of the unbelieving scum on the other side
Cause they don't go for what's in the
book 'n that makes 'em BAD
So verily we must choppeth them up
And stompeth them down
Or rent a nice French bomb
To poof them out of existance
While leaving their real estate just where
we need it
To use again for temples in which to praise
OUR GOD ("Cause he can really take care of business!")
And when his humble TV servant with humble white hair and humble glasses and a nice brown suit
And maybe a blond wife who takes phone calls
Tells us our God says it's okay to do this stuff
Then we gotta do it, 'Cause if we don't do it,
We ain't rising up to heaven!
(Depending on which book you're using at the time...Can't use theirs... that's all wrong
...it's all lies...Gotta use mine...Ain't that right? That's what they say
Every night...
Every day...
Hey, we can't really be dumb
If we're just following God's Orders
He wrote this book here and in this book he says
He made us all to be just like Him.
so if we're dumb, then God is dumb
And maybe even a little bit ugly on the side
Zappa for president, I don't care if he is dead!
15 - CW Fisher
Woof! Woof! Woof!
Bernie, baby, Bernie!
I like verse, the verse the better. Bernard, do you blog? I didn't see your url. You should. That's great stuff.
16 - CW Fisher
Shark: My wife is in love with you and my adult children want a new dad who is you. They no longer read my blog. They go straight to the Museum. I hate these traitors so much. I suckled these children at my teat! Until I was incarcerated.
So it's beer and hockey, is it? These are two subjects of which I know little, except that they seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly, Martini & Rossi, Saccho & Vicente, Sears & Roebuck, and head injuries.
If Canadians would stop sparing the rod and spank the living shit out of their kids, they'd grow up a lot more 'murrican, as that cad Carruthers calls us. How I loathe him. Watch: my "children" will love him next, and still hit me up for money.
They were to be my chips off the old blog, not chips in the tread of my shoe.
17 - BB
CW: I was so impressed with your treatise above that I sent a copy to the very Donald H. Rumsfeld. I hope you don't mind. He said he will get back to me. Good thing I can hold my breath.
Shark: You forgot - "eh, hoser"!
18 - BB
CW: I was so impressed with your treatise above that I sent a copy to the very Donald H. Rumsfeld. I hope you don't mind. He said he will get back to me. Good thing I can hold my breath.
Shark: You forgot the part - "eh, Hoser"!
19 - CW Fisher
His resume makes my resume look like my resume. How I loate him.
20 - CW Fisher
His resume makes my resume look like my resume. How I loathe him.
21 - BB
I loate, er loathe him too. But isn't that what is great about politicians? They give us a channel to vent all that pent-up frustration.
22 - Jim Carruthers
While I like beer, I'm not that interested in the NHL since it is symptomatic of how the corporate USA tends to pervert and pimp almost everything it touches.
And the recent uncivilized attacks on our man Doyle about how having Fox "News" in Canada would let us see 'murricans as they are, not as they think they appear, has only reinforced my perceptions.
It's not like we aren't coping with our own problems with an unelected leader who appears prone to lie and bluster, but at least we are keeping it at home and in scale (the amount in the scandal is less than the amount Shrub will be throwing at teevee advertising) but it is about the principal and ethics.
Sorry for talking about ethics rather than about raw power and how to maintain it at all costs. Sorry Satan, for distracting your vassals from their greasing your scaly weasel.
23 - Shark
CW, in a rare moment when NOT in denial: "Shark: My wife is in love with you and my adult children want a new dad who is you..."
That's okay. I understand.
It's 'cause I'm just like you: I cook, clean, am totally flaccid, and "have a great sense of humor".
In other words, The Perfect Man.
24 - Shark
Jim, you don't understand; Americans are only given a few choices when it comes to showing our "patriotism":
1) keep shopping
2) stay terrified
3) give Satan a hummer while begging him to continue to rule over our vassalhood.
Lately, most of us do all three.
xxoo
A prowd 'merrikun.
25 - Stately Wayne Manor
Not being a friggin'Canuckie,I wouldn't
know how it feels to be a resident of
just another one of those insignificant
"Nations" such as yours.It sure is hard
to be 'Merican and #ONE though, because
lame ducks from from even lamer places
are on your jock,24/7. You are funny as
all great give a fuck though Carruthers.