How many pro-war citizens have actually served time in the military?

If the proof was provided, would you support the war? There's no point in compromising our intelligence sources when countries like Germany and France don't give a crap either way.

 

Yes I would. In my opinion, the biggest threat to the US is not Iraq or North Korea, but Al Qaeda. Powell has said there are links between Iraq and Al Qaeda, but has not offered any hard evidence whatsoever. This lack of proof makes me feel that the administration wants to attack Iraq for other unspecified reasons.

 

You would send a few hundred thousand Americans to war and spend billions of dollars doing it but you don't want to compromise our intelligence sources to verify the administrations reasons behind the war? That sounds pretty dumb.

 

Showing proof would help build an international coalition, not compromise our intelligence.

If there is indeed a link, let it be known. I don't think the european countries are just against war, they have stated OVER AND OVER , they just want proof.

In regards to heretic's topic:

I think that's why I respect Colin Powell so much because of his experience in war and his knowledge of its horrors.

Bush, Clinton, Cheney and others have no experience and wormed their way out of their country's obligations more than anything.

 

FD Khan,

An international coalition has been created already. I don't see the countries opposed to the war being persuaded by more evidence of the Al Qaeda link. These countries see war as a "last resort," whatever that means. To them, war is failure, so I think they will wait until an actual attack occurs before they attack.

Don't get me wrong, I hope that the evidence is laid out as clearly as possible, but sometiems Powell and government officials have good reasons for not giving it.

 

.

Talk about circular reasoning...

Step 1) Say there is an unspecified link between A and B...and ask people to go to war on that premise.

Step 2) When people don't believe you enough to go to war, and ask for proof, repeat step A, but louder.

Step 3) When people still don't believe you, and still ask for proof, claim that there's no point in showing them proof anyway, seeing as how they don't believe you...

 

Except that France and Germany DO believe us, but they don't care. They have already stated that inspections are the way to go, and they consider war a failure. If this is their position, it is pointless to give anymore evidence.

 

ummm...since when have France and Germany said thet they believe that Iraq was behind El Qaeda, or represent an urgetnt threat to other nations, but don't care? I am serious, this would interest me...

 

I don't remember France and Germany contradicting what Powell was saying. They disagree that war is the proper response.

 

On a related note, of the people suggesting trades in the Rockets' forum, how many of you have actually played or coached in the NBA?

 

Let's be logical here...they are saying that they have seen no evidence, not that they know for a fact that the US position is wrong...so they are hardly going to come out and contradict Powell, they are just going to say that they still don't have enough cause for something as serious as going to war. The onus isn't on other powers to show that there is absolutely know reason to go to war, it kind of works the other way around...

 

Another reason the trade threads are stupid.

 

Heretic,


Do not listen to this guy, he is only attempting to incite an argument. He will march against you even though you were a part of the forces that one time fought for the freedoms he has.

Like I stated in another thread, if people like him had their way and we did not have people who stood up for the freedoms of all:

- we would have never broke free from the British
- but if we did, we would still have slavery
- and by now German would be our native tongue

and so on and so on...

Had it not been for serious back problems that led to surgery, I would have gone into the armed forces my self as did my father, grandfather, uncle and currently my cousin who as a Harrier pilot in the Mid East region as we speak and is likely to see action.

Whether you support the stance of our government or not it the Iraqi situation, I would like to thank you for your service to our country!

 

I wanted to use the title of this thread to start yet another diatribe...

It does raise an interesting point...The origins of 'responsible government', ie ancient Rome and Greece made defending your country inperson an essential element to being eligible to vote on such key issues as whether or not to go to war. The idea being that people are much more likely to be casual about sending other people to war than they would be were it they themselves having to back up said vote with their life.

It should be noted that the fall of the Roman Republic into a Dictatorship coincided, in most experts views, with the removal of military obligation from the voting Senate...in other words, as Rome grew, and became more powerfull, the rich and elite increasingly sought to just live lives of irresponsible luxury and power, and bought their way out of military service...

It might also be worthwhile noting that in the lat 5 significant American military engagements, the relative number of upper-class military exemptions has increased with each and every one...In other words, more and more the wealthier, more powerful people who some say should and others say do make major decisions like whether or not to go to war protect themselves and their children from having to ever serve, while relatively poorer groups serve much more than their equateble percentage of the population...( For example, African Americans represented almost twice as high a percentage of active ground troops in Korea and VietNam as they did in the United States as a whole...)

Just an interesting side note...

 

Alright, you're probably right regarding the Al Qaeda link, France and Germany probably hasn't seen enough to believe it.

BUT, they have pretty much said that going to war is wrong. Their position right now is that the inspections are working, and since Saddam showed some (meaningless) cooperation, then we should keep on the same path. They also consider war to be a failure and only a last resort. With that position, it's hard to see what evidence can persuade them.

 

Poor examples...very, very poor...

1) Internal...and only 1/3 of Americans supported Revolution, and even those considered themselves loyal subjects of the King who were initially just trying to prove a point...

2) Internal...and the moral precedent is against you. You do see the difference between Americans deciding for America vs. Americans deciding for others.......don't you?

3) Absolutely incorrect. Germany declared war on the US, not the other way around.

 

Good Lord Almighty, man, no. I was making a little joke. And I'm not marching against anybody. If and when I march, I march for the spirit of international unity and the power of respect and diplomacy.

What is up with you this week? Anyway, hope everything is okay with you. Peace to your soul, if not to the world.

 

Why do people compare every war to every war. The American Revolution is completely different from the Civil War, which is completely different from WWII.

Just because someone is against war with Iraq doesn't mean they would have been against going to war during WWII.

The analogy is simple and ridiculous.

 

you obviously did not see Colin Powell's presentation where he very clearly proved Rudy's habits of bad rotation.

 

I love it when people base their conclusions on how much air-time a subject gets on CNN. Just because the news media have forgotten about it (seemingly), doesn't mean the government isn't doing anything.