Whatever, the previous admin ignored the terrorists, starved the US Military and the infrastructure in general and spent all kinds of future monies on programs that nobody wants except the welfare addicts that vote democrat. Then a real leader takes over and he has to spend money on the Military.... go figure.
well wether you favor the war or not, a fiscal reality check is in order. The unfunded mandates for SSI and medicare run about $27 trillion at latest estimates. The war in Iraq alone (afghanistan would have been in the cards with everyone except Nader) will be about $250 billion when all is said and done IMO. The overall effects of 9/11 are much more expensive though, starting with the great waste of checking grandma at the airport so that we may not offend someone by profiling. Sure, its money we don't have, but don't kid yourself into thinking it would cure SSI or medicare.
This kind of talk sounds disturbingly similar to some of the rhetoric that we often hear from certain powerful members of the fanatical religious right-wing in the current govt. "The national government will maintain and defend the foundations on which the power of our nation rests. It will offer strong protection to Christianity as the very basis of our collective morality. Today Christians stand at the head of our country. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit. We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theatre, and in the press -- in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of LIBERAL excess during the past years." -- Adolph Hitler; Taken from The Speeches of Adolph Hitler, 1922-1939, Vol. 1, Michael Hakeem, Ph.D. (London, Oxford University Press, 1942), pp. 871-872." "I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator... I am fighting for the Lord's work" -- Adolph Hitler in 1938. "The [National Government] regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life." -- Adolph Hitler "Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith.... We need believing people. -- Adolf Hitler, April 26, 1933
I'm sure Karl Rove took the following lesson straight to heart: "Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, its the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy, All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifist for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." Hermann Goering, Hitler's Reich-Marshall at the Nuremberg Trials after WWII
Bush is not a Christian - A Christian is some one who follows Christ's teachings - Bush has violated every one of Christ's teachings numerous times... Christ would puke at the thought of Bush as his disciple... Bush is not a Man - He does not qualify as man since he has never earned anything by his own efforts or thru the trial by fire that all men go through to try to accomplish something whether or not they gain or lose... Bush is the worst president this nation has ever seen since he does not lead by wisdom but by immature amoral instincts... Bush supports numerous tyrants around the world... Leader of Pakistan, Leader of Ubekistan, Egypt, etc... this list could go on for quite awhile...
Were not talking about erasing Christianity were talking about Christians living up to their own teachings... except for very, very few... most are incapable of it... Christ would not support what is going on with this government for one second... he would be in there over-throwing tables again like in the temple... The hypocrisy of those calling themselves Chrisitians and supporting the unnecessary military actions from the Vietnam era to now is beyond conception or acceptance...
Christ was a bastard. Mary was a "virgin" because they had not paid the Roman tax for marriage yet and "virgin" was the euphemism for that. Christ was probably schizotypal. A homeless guy in the desert lost and aimless. He would be living under a bridge today or in a shelter. He would most certainly not be making millions preaching evangelical claptrap on the idiot box. The symbol for christianity is one of torture and death (the cross) and that was probably stolen too, just like their holidays (pagan festivals) the old testament (the epic of gilgamesh) and all that money that went into paying for entry into "heaven." Amazing that billions of dollars worth of telescopes haven't found "heaven!" If lies, torture and death are the basis for the "wonderful experience" then count me out. Does explain, however, how somebody can be a good christian and pursue an 8 year war on the weak in good conscience. Albert
Wel, there is a military base here, and they fund this brutal regime. <B>What drives support for this torturer Oil and gas ensure that the US backs the Uzbek dictator to the hilt Craig Murray 05/16/05 "The Guardian" - - The bodies of hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in Uzbekistan are scarcely cold, and already the White House is looking for ways to dismiss them. The White House spokesman Scott McClellan said those shot dead in the city of Andijan included "Islamic terrorists" offering armed resistance. They should, McClellan insists, seek democratic government "through peaceful means, not through violence". But how? This is not Georgia, Ukraine or even Kyrgyzstan. There, the opposition parties could fight elections. The results were fixed, but the opportunity to propagate their message brought change. In Uzbek elections on December 26, the opposition was not allowed to take part at all. And there is no media freedom. On Saturday morning, when Andijan had been leading world news bulletins for two days, most people in the capital, Tashkent, still had no idea anything was happening. Nor are demonstrations in the capital tolerated. On December 7 a peaceful picket at the gates of the British embassy was broken up with great violence, its victims including women and children. So how can Uzbeks pursue democracy by "peaceful means"? Take the 23 businessmen whose trial for "Islamic extremism" sparked recent events. Had the crowd not sprung them from jail, what would have awaited them? The conviction rate in criminal and political trials in Uzbekistan is over 99% - in President Karimov's torture chambers, everyone confesses. But the torture by no means ends on conviction. In prison there is torture to make you sign a recantation of faith and declaration of loyalty to the president. And there is torture to make you sign evidence implicating "accomplices". It was at this stage that the infamous boiling to death of Muzafar Avazov and Husnidin Alimov took place in Jaslik prison in 2002. I expect the government will take care that the 23, if not already dead, die in the mopping up. You may think I exaggerate. Read the 2002 report by Professor Theo van Boven, the UN special rapporteur on torture, in which he denounced torture in Uzbekistan as "widespread and systemic". Human Rights Watch last year produced a book with more than 300 pages of case studies. One of the uses of Uzbek torture is to provide the CIA and MI6 with "intelligence" material linking the Uzbek opposition with Islamist terrorism and al-Qaida. The information is almost entirely bogus, and it was my efforts to stop MI6 using it that led ultimately to my effective dismissal from the Foreign Office. The information may be untrue, but it is valuable because it feeds into the US agenda. Karimov is very much George Bush's man in central Asia. There is not a senior member of the US administration who is not on record saying warm words about Karimov. There is not a single word recorded by any of them calling for free elections in Uzbekistan. And it's not just words. In 2002, the US gave Uzbekistan over $500m in aid, including $120m in military aid and $80m in security aid. The level has declined - but not nearly as much as official figures seem to show (much is hidden in Pentagon budgets after criticism of the 2002 figure). The airbase opened by the US at Khanabad is not essential to operations in Afghanistan, its claimed raison d'être. It has a more crucial role as the easternmost of Donald Rumsfeld's "lily pads" - air bases surrounding the "wider Middle East", by which the Pentagon means the belt of oil and gas fields stretching from the Middle East through the Caucasus and central Asia. A key component of this strategic jigsaw fell into place this spring when US firms were contracted to build a pipeline to bring central Asia's hydrocarbons out through Afghanistan to the Arabian sea. That strategic interest explains the recent signature of the US-Afghan strategic partnership agreement, as well as Bush's strong support for Karimov. So the Uzbek people can keep on dying. They are not worth a lot of cash, so who cares? I travelled to Andijan a year ago to meet the opposition leaders, and kept in touch. I can give you a direct assurance that they are - or in many cases were - in no sense Islamist militants. They died an unwanted embarrassment to US foreign policy. We will doubtless hear some pious hypocrisies from Jack Straw. But when I was seeking funding to support the proto-democrats, the Foreign Office turned me down flat. The US will fund "human rights" training in Uzbekistan but not help for the democratic opposition, in contrast to its policy elsewhere in the former Soviet Union. When Jon Purnell, the US ambassador, last year attended the opening of a human rights centre in the Ferghana valley, he interrupted a local speaker criticising repression. Political points, Purnell opined, were not allowed. The western news agenda has moved the dead of Andijan from the "democrat" to the "terrorist" pile. Karimov remains in power. The White House will be happy. That's enough for No 10. · Craig Murray was British ambassador to Uzbekistan from 2002 to 2004 - http://www.craigmurray.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005