What I'm about to say and talk about may make me sound anti-American. I just want to preface everything I'm about to say with a simple fact. I love my country and I love the people in it. The people in this country are wonderful and, for the most part, we are still one of the greatest places within the world to work and live. Ok, now here it comes ... http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/12/20/133001 Basically, this person mentioned some things about Osama bin Laden that instantly inflamed a lot of Republicans (and other people as well). However, have we been so blind-sided by truth and apparent truths that we can no longer, as a majority within this nation, understand the real causes of terrorism and what is taking place currently? Let's just go out on a large tangent and assume that the group behind September 11'th did not do this for shits and giggles. This isn't a drug deal gone bad which was followed by a drive-by shooting that let several bystanders on the street dead. Perhaps we, as a nation, should take a step back and ask the really hard question -- did we contribute to 9/11? Nobody in a public office could dare juggle that question, but isn't that a very valid question to be asking? The reason why nobody in a public office can ask that question is because the United States, as a whole, is just pissed off and wants revenge. If someone were to step out and suggest that we, in some way or another, may have partially contributed to the mess we are in, they would be in a situation not unlike someone who was accused of being a Communist under Mccarthyism. So let's just assume that we go over and wipe the Iraqi government clean. Then what will take place? Wouldn't such a large power-vacuum create even greater instabilities within that region? How long will it take before the instability reaches a critical mass and other countries have no choice but to become involved? At some point, the United States interests will be perpendicular to some of our closest allies. It isn't a question of if, but of when. When that does happen, what are we to do? What gives us a right to self-preservation of our current way of life moreso to all the other countries within the world? Sadly, I guess I'm starting to come to the realization that the United States will not be acting out of some "noble grace" to rid the world of the "axis of evil" -- but instead, we're simply assuring our way of life for however long we can by pushing back the inevitable that continues to become more grave the further we push it into the future. If we were to confront this ugliness today, it would be quite unbearable for many to realize -- but it seems like the current administration would rather not confront the "REAL" issues and push them deeper into the future. The problem then becomes -- with each passing week, month and year, we're making the ugliness that we will eventually need to face even uglier. This has now gone well beyond greed, money, energy policy, oil and ego -- it seems as if the conflict has taken on a course of its own, where the only inevitable consequence is an eventual destabilization of our own country and values because we have whored ourselves out to something that is ugly, yet not very clear to the American public.
I'm not as educated about this as you are. Please break it down to me in simple terms -- why are we going to war with Iraq? Why? Because they "might" be a threat -- because they "are" a threat? Because they "might" have weapons? Because they "might" use them?
didnt the expert politicians say we won the gulf war? if we won why are we going back so soon and what did we win?
I want to see our smart weapons in action as we destroy Iraq's infrastructure and ability to f%$k with everybody. The US military will roll over them like they did Afghanistan. I will feel a little better knowing that they can never develope a nuke for NYC, or fund Al Quada, or mess up our pipeline through Afghanistan which will bring enough oil online to put the Saudis out of business, if we should so decide. As far as other energy sources: Fuel cells; dead technology unless they can be made so a terrorist can't use them as bombs. Nuclear power plants: Enviro-nuts won't stand for them. Solar/wind: We would have to reduce our usage of energy by 98.5% to go pure solar!! We would live like peasants in the 10th century but with electric lighting!! That is what a lot of environmentalists are expecting us to do!! Nobody is going to accept that. I loved that Clinton administration!! I looked for the words "terror" and "terrorist" in the major media and never found them the whole 8 years!! Planes blew up on the opening day of the olympics but it was technical failure!! All you anti-war/isolationist folks, do us all a favor, pull your head out of your backside and look around. The Osama crowd wants us all dead or converted to Islam and they are willing to die to get that done. It is a war to the death. The CIA has killed off or captured a third of the Al Quada leadership and they aren't done yet, the Israelis have killed off the leadership of Hamas and the like twice over in the last couple of years and are getting ready to bulldoze the whole Palestinian thing into the next country, and nobody cares which one. If we publicly pull Sadam's teeth without novacaine while we hold a Bowie knife to his privates maybe terrorists will realize that the kindergarten class might be better off shutting up and listening to the teacher. The radical "kill the Jews, kill the west" crowd is a largely unwelcome minority in the middle east. We have a lot of allies over there. They and us will all be a lot better off after the bullies are publicly whipped in the schoolyard. Max
Just goes to show you what the expert politicians understand about war. You can't hold a hearing on what a war will be about. If you have a war the understanding is simple. A war is one in which one side says clearly and definitively that they give. What you don't do is set the parameters that you will drive up to so that you can claim a photo-op victory. This is not a prize fight, it is a war. There are no rounds nor should there be nightly updates with color graphs and experts feigning a definite understanding of the reasoning that they are not privy to. Nor do we need any actor war papers and review of the government policy. They too need to understand that they have no clue. Merely a right to an opinion.
I really need to stop worrying so much about politics. I need to be more upbeat about things and stop painting doom and gloom pictures about the world. Sorry, the world is beautiful.
You could try this: determine what reality is (not an easy task) and interpret its implications in such a way that they become beneficial to you. (ie "more upbeat"). it's good that you've caught yourself before falling into the kind of doom and gloom quagmire of "the US is wrong because... because... because i just don't like it" that we-are-the-world fantasists like candleloser and wild reside in...