Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 7,117 |
Originally posted by caltour: If Saddam was in fact a true military threat to the U.S., then why did the Bushmen have to lie and spin and manipulate in order to get its war? They lied about the yellowcake uranium, the aluminum tubes, the ties to Al-Quaeda, the "reconstituted" WMD programs. They lied because they had no real case. They lied because the public did not want the war until they were made to pee their pants by endless talk of african uranium and aluminum tubes. Bush used the post-9/11 hysteria to spin Saddam into a military threat to the U.S.
If the Bushmen didn't have any genuine reason to fear attack by Saddam, then why did they go to all the trouble of starting a war? Four reasons:
1. Re-election. This is by far the most important reason. Bush only narrowly won election in 2000 (some say he actually lost). The messy and suspicious vote counting in Florida pissed off Democrats nationwide. As a result, Bush was very unpopular, with approval ratings well below what he needed to be assured re-election in 2004. He and his handlers anticipated an uprising of frustrated and angry Democrats in 2004. What to do? Enter Karl Rove. "The only thing that will save you is running as a wartime president," Karl says. So Karl & Co. cook up a war to save an unpopular president's ass, and hang it on the peg of 9/11.
2. Bush's corporate pals want some war profits! The economy wasn't looking so hot after Bush took office. Economists were predicting months or years of slow or no growth. Bush and Cheney's corporate pals use their unprecedented access to the first "MBA president" (and to all the Republican and Democrat corporate shills in congress) to lobby for more military spending. "Hey, George, listen to those brilliant neo-conservative thinkers in your administration, especially Perle, Wolfowitz, and Rice," they say. "A war would be good. We could sell you everything from missiles to saltine crackers if you would just start a splendid little war."
3. Revenge on Saddam for attack on Bush's father. Don't even think of downplaying this one. The Bushes are known for a bizarre family allegiance and a ruthless streak of vengeance. They are like a combination of the Appalachian Hatfields and the New Jersey Gambinos. When Saddam launched his unsuccessful hit on Bush Sr., it was only a matter of time before the Bushes launched a counterattack. On our nickel.
4. Future access to oil. Cheney, Bush and their cronies come from the oil business, and they owe a lot of favors there for all those generous campaign contributions. They rode to wealth on cheap oil, and they want that to continue as long as possible. They know as well as anyone that cheap oil is coming to an end. They are all about grabbing what they can, while they can. That means that oil reserves that are locked up under tinpot dictators must be "liberated." No they aren't trying to steal Iraq's oil. No one is that stupid. But they are trying to get those oil contracts on the market, so the Bush dynasty (and hundreds of others in that business) can keep on getting richer.
Originally posted by JaTo: Secondly, the invasion of Iraq was put to a vote in the House and Senate and PASSED. Many of your left-wing pals apparently made an independent judgement call on the evidence presented by the intelligence community themselves in favor of ousting Hussein, or have you convienently forgot that?
I don't follow your logic here. You think that because some Democrats voted to authorize war, Bush is not responsible for his decision? That's the same argument people use when they are pulled over for speeding ("Hey, you can't write me up for speeding! Everyone else is speeding, too!)
Secondly, the fact that Democrats and many others voted to authorize war would make no legal difference in impeachment hearings. Bush pulled the trigger, and he would have to answer for his decision. There is no "I-was-just-going-with-the-flow-of-traffic" defense for chief executives in impeachment hearings.
And don't assume that the Democrat lapdogs in congress are my pals. I am not a member of their party, and I don't agree with their decision to authorize the war.
Originally posted by JaTo: First, Bush and his staff kept pushing a peaceful UN route all the way up to the invasion. They kept offering Husssein outs; Hell, they even offered an ultimatum that put forth exile as an option that would stave off invasion.
I don't follow your logic here, either. What difference does it make that Bush didn't start the war for a while before he started it? If someone is charged with murder, since when is it a defense to say "But I didn't kill anyone for many years before I killed that guy." Man, you are really grasping at straws here.
Do you even READ some of the stuff you type???
If this had JaTo as the quoted, you'd punch it full of holes without breaking a sweat.
Thin, thin, thin. Analogies WAAAY out of proportion, viewpoints waaaay out of context. Typical smoke & mirrors.
Iraq was viewed as a rogue nation in the ME. Remember the Quaiti invasion? After the first gulf war, in light of 9/11, Iraq were viewed as a potential bio-chem weapon source for the terrorists. That's when the UN sanctions & inspections became of particular importance to the US. Not Iraq as a military threat. That is why the discrepencies in UN declarations were so disturbing, & the Iraqi compliance with the inspectors was so important. After a dozen resolutions & ample opportunities to come into compliance by allowing inspections, justification established IMHO. Allow inspections, that's all he had to do. Originally posted by caltour: What difference does it make that Bush didn't start the war for a while before he started it?
Puh-leeze!
Now your responses to the Congressional vote point & the initial diplomatic efforts via the UN were absolutely evasive - and you know it. Congress knew what was up & knew they had to vote for force or be seen as soft, so they took the cowards way out. Only Congress can declare war, that's why it had to be put to a vote. So they bent the rules a bit, voted to authorized force if deemed essential by the President. The Pres had to be the ONE guy to pull the trigger. If it went well, "We put country ahead of politics, ain't we great!". If not, "Bush is killin' your sons!!!"
I also can't believe that the 2000 election is part of your first point! Get over it already. The sculduggery down here was performed by the Democrats, not the Republicans. The election committee that approved ballots used in PB County - controlled by Dems, as is County government as a whole. Same with Broward & Dade Counties - Typically Democratic strongholds. Note: Through the whole process of the ballot design approval, and then the voting, not one objection or even concern was raised about the ballots. Only AFTER the results were becoming obvious did any objections get raised about the ballot design. It was a ploy to set the table for re-counts. The full ballot was even printed in the newspaper a few days before the elections - along with the newspapers 'suggestions' on who to vote for. Not an eyebrow was raised until well after the results started coming in.
Ballots were counted, & re-counted by the elections board, and finally counted yet again by the MEDIA!! Can you fathom that crap! The media - CBS & CNN in particular hired hundreds of people for several months to yet again re-count the ballots in hopes of finding, or even creating, some sort of angle pointing to voter fraud so they could have a scoop & maybe get Gore into the Whitehouse.
Worst of all, during all this controversy, while the Dems were screaming for every vote to count, they actually petitioned the courts to EXCLUDE some military ballots that were not counted in the original tallies. Bush won those districts and the margin was greater than the number of absentee ballots, so opening & hand counting the military absentee votes was a moot point initially. Now if the Dems could find enough "hanging chads" to swing the vote, why do you suppose they wanted the valid & duely submitted military ballots excluded???
Must be that jumbly-wumbly thing happening again.
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