More interestingly, the Danes have a submarine? I have no idea whay, but that jumped out at me as interesting... And I also find it interesting that, once again, the issue which is inconvenient for pro-war-at-this-timers is sidestepped to discuss Al Queda members fighting alongside the Iraqis now that we have invaded them and made us a common enemy... ...but while we are off topic, I have repeatedly had this image in my mind of what those who feel that this is somehow surprising envision things as they should be... ***The scene...a half destroyed bunker somewhere in war-torn Iraq. As bombs explode around the bunker, and injured and dead troops are being carried off to some sort of medical attention, an Iraqi officer is sitting at the rickety table which has comprised his desk for the last couple of weeks, looking over some papers. On chairs in front of him sit 2 men, mid thirties, weary from days of travel through rough terrain, but eyes alight with the indefatigable fervour that only zealots possess, each fingering the AK-47s strung from their shoulders. An aide approaches the officer... " Sir, there are reports that another air attack is.." but cuts off mid sentence by a motion of the officer's hand, nods slightly, and retreats from the room. The officer, a wizened 50 something man with a slight paunch and a face unshaven in over a week, finishes reading the papers marked "Resume"... He puts the papers down on his desk, sighs, and straightens his back, and says ( in what I invariably picture as an Eton accent ) " Gentlemen...I am sorry...we appreciate your offer...but we have certain standards...and this" a gesture towards the resumes on his desk.." well, this I'm afraid, just won't do."****
The Bush Administration has done an awful job of diplomacy preparing for this war, with Rumsfeld shooting his mouth off and acting like Secretary of State as the whim strikes him... with no check from Bush. Bush is clearly getting bad advice from his "team" at the White House. They are over their head. And Bush needs good advice, badly. So much has been said that needn't have been said. And so much wasn't said when it might have made a difference. The whole way Turkey, and the use of it's territory for the movement of our most technologically advanced division to Northern Iraq, was handled is an embarassment and heads should roll. It's easy to say "it's all Turkey's fault, the SOB's!", but Turkey didn't let the ships sit in the Med for weeks... we did. The lack of decisiveness on our part is costing us now. We look foolish for waving billions of dollars as an incentive for the Turks and then threatening to take it away. It looked like a bribe and a crude attempt to bully them into doing what they might have done, if it had been handled differently. They have a new government that's Islamic in nature... a very delicate situation considering the secular traditions of Turkey, their attempt to get into the EU, and the propensity of the Turkish military to step into Turkish politics. The Administration talks a lot about it's use of diplomacy. They have proved they are inadequate, to put it kindly, in their use of it.
I suspect that it's a diesel powered one... quiet and useful in the shallow waters of the Gulf. Just a guess.
Who gives a F#@!... The countries voicing there "non-involvement" never really were going to participate anyway...and never will...Everyone is trying to apease their own public opinion, but to quote the great Arnold, the "Terminator"... "Sometimes you have to have war to get Peace"...Classic... SH is an evil b*stard and has been committing murder of the innocent for a very long time, but somehow, we're the only ones willing to do something about it and bring world peace...
We're gonna be at this an awful long time if we're going through your laundry list. How many trillions of dollars do you want your tax dollars to pay for? Not to mention with our military all around the globe, we'd be vulnerable to a full-on invasion from Canada!
