Now that the "war" is over a simple poll. Does it disturb you that we don't know where Saddam or Bin Laden are? Or any of Saddam's nasty children?
Everything about this war, which is not and never will be over, disturbs me, and you are absolutely right in noting the glaring peculiarity that the main Bad Guys in this cheap hollywood script manage to so conveniently be mysteriously missing, so they can figure as an ongoing plot element in the uipcoming sequels. Personally, I believe they've both been granted a witness-relocation deal for the roles which they were casted and hired to play by the Halliburton Group a.k.a. The Bush Administration
Maybe you've had this experience, maybe not. I have. In high school I was stolen from and I got real pissed off about it - I started saying how I would 'fuckin kill' the person who did it when I found them, yada yada. I never found out who did it. In college I was stolen from and decided to take a different tact. After the incident first occurred, I acted as if nothing happened. I let the 'smoke' clear for a while and then began a minor investigation. Within a short period of time I knew basically who the culprit was but still waited. When the right time came - a time where my position was strong and my opponent's weak - I chose confrontation. Should it be that the US was actually trying to get both Bin Laden and Saddam, one can hardly argue their methods were flawed. And, to some degree one could understand with Bin Laden how tempers would have been running high and mistakes made . But Saddam? We made a big stink and he got away, no surprise. As a result of this reasoning I would say our government is (a) not concerned with the capture of Bin Laden &/or Saddam, or (b) highly incompetant and incapable of learning.
I vote for A. They not only are not concerned with capturing either of them, but they deliberately want them to be mysterious unapprehended boogeymen whose alleged presence here and there and everywhere can be dredged up to fan the flames of American anti-terrorism pro-war hysteria for any pretext toward any country. and I also believe C. they know exactly where these two are located, I think they've got the pair of them holed up in a bunker playing poker with each other.
Not only don't we know where Bin Laden and Hussein are, and we don't know where his evil offspring are, or his family, or their money.....we don't know where the WMD are. I find it a bit mind boggling that more people in this country don't focus on the failure of the administration to accomplish their goals. This administration, for whatever reason, is getting a free pass in this area. Where is the outrage? Why is it acceptable for an administration to make all kinds of objectives in the "war" on terrorism, yet fail so miserably in finding the most important components in this "war?" Why is it that we have embedded journalists during the war, yet so little coverage of the real war that is the attempted reconstruction and "democratization" of Iraq? Why so little coverage of Afghanistan post war? Why no total body counts of dead as a result of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq? Why detainees still in Cuba? So many things just don't add up, don't feel right, yet most Americans don't care as long as they can fill up their SUV with gas under 2 bucks a gallon.
The administration IS accomplishing its goals. Oh yes indeed. However, its goals, and its stated or purported goals are two very different things. We don't know where the WMD are because there are, and all along were, no WMD. That was all a bogus pretext. The outrage, where is it? It's in all the anti-war protesters not only in this country but around the world. But, oh yeah, those people are just a bunch of U.S.-hating Jerry Lewis-loving frogs who we should nuke if we get the chance. Why so little coverage of Afghanistan? Because no one in this country has ever given a shit about Afghanistan, and our attack on them was just a practice warm-up for Iraq which was Bushie Jr's target all along, since long before September 2001. Probably was his main motivation for running in 2000 in the first place. Make daddy proud by getting his old grudge-enemy. Why detainees in Cuba? USA PATRIOT Act. The Bill Of Rights is a woosie document. A Monopoly game Get-out-of jail-free card has more legal tender value than the U.S. Constitution in 2003.
Lies and more lies. Who Said What When *Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. Dick Cheney August 26, 2002 - - - *Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons. George W. Bush September 12, 2002 - - - *If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world. Ari Fleischer December 2, 2002 - - - *We know for a fact that there are weapons there. Ari Fleischer January 9, 2003 - - - *Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. George W. Bush January 28, 2003 - - - *We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more. Colin Powell February 5, 2003 - - - *We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have. George Bush February 8, 2003 - - - *So has the strategic decision been made to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction by the leadership in Baghdad? I think our judgment has to be clearly not. Colin Powell March 8, 2003 - - - *Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised. George Bush March 17, 2003 - - - *Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly . . . all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes. Ari Fleisher March 21, 2003 - - - *There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them. Gen. Tommy Franks March 22, 2003 - - - *I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction. Kenneth Adelman, Defense Policy Board , March 23, 2003 - - - *One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites. Pentagon Spokeswoman Victoria Clark March 22, 2003 - - - *We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad. Donald Rumsfeld March 30, 2003 - - - *Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find -- and there will be plenty. Neocon scholar Robert Kagan April 9, 2003 - - - *I think you have always heard, and you continue to hear from officials, a measure of high confidence that, indeed, the weapons of mass destruction will be found. Ari Fleischer April 10, 2003 - - - *We are learning more as we interrogate or have discussions with Iraqi scientists and people within the Iraqi structure, that perhaps he destroyed some, perhaps he dispersed some. And so we will find them. George Bush April 24, 2003 - - - *There are people who in large measure have information that we need . . . so that we can track down the weapons of mass destruction in that country. Donald Rumsfeld April 25, 2003 - - - *We'll find them. It'll be a matter of time to do so. George Bush May 3, 2003 - - - *I am confident that we will find evidence that makes it clear he had weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell May 4, 2003 - - - *I never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country. Donald Rumsfeld May 4, 2003 - - - *I'm not surprised if we begin to uncover the weapons program of Saddam Hussein -- because he had a weapons program. George W. Bush May 6, 2003 - - - *U.S. officials never expected that "we were going to open garages and find" weapons of mass destruction. Condoleeza Rice May 12, 2003 - - - *I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years ago -- I mean, there's no question that there were chemical weapons years ago -- whether they were destroyed right before the war, (or) whether they're still hidden. Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, Commander 101st Airborne May 13, 2003 - - - *Before the war, there's no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical. I expected them to be found. I still expect them to be found. Gen. Michael Hagee, Commandant of the Marine Corps May 21, 2003 - - - *Given time, given the number of prisoners now that we're interrogating, I'm confident that we're going to find weapons of mass destruction. Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff May 26, 2003 - - - *They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer. Donald Rumsfeld May 27, 2003 - - - *For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction (as justification for invading Iraq) because it was the one reason everyone could agree on. Paul Wolfowitz May 28, 2003
First of all, there aren't enough pieces left of Laden, Hussein or his sons to find. Secondly, we don't need to find WMD at this stage. We've won the war and we've freed a group of supressed people from an evil dictator. I guess most of the liberals would rather Hussein's regime still be in place so that people could get tortured all the time, but shit happens. The older I get, the more I realize that liberals just bitch and moan while the others get shit done.
Do you understand the problem, or has conservative thinking just turned your brain to Fox News induced mush. You may be happy with the outcome, but the liberation of the Iraqi people wasn't the stated objective of the war with Iraq in the beginning, now was it? No, first it was the UN resolution, then it was terrorism, then it was freedom for the Iraqi people yada yada yada. My beef, along with others who know how presidential power left unchecked corrupts, is the change in policy in the middle of the process. If Bush's goal was to liberate the people of Iraq first and foremost, then say it in the beginning. Bush is duplicitous, and the flag waving brain deads are paying no attention to the bigger picture, nor holding the current administration accountable for the fact that to this point the administration has thus failed to achieve its initially stated objectives.
Having lived twice as long as you Aphie, I have come to one conclusion. No politician tells the truth. They mostly come from the law profession.....and what are lawyers? Paid liars.