I was scrolling a bit more through the thread and was sucked into the melodrama... "Nightmare on HayesStreet". Wow, fatfatcow... I feel like I've experienced one of those time-travel things like they used to have on "Star Trek".
Deckard, No problem. I sometimes wonder if people read or just scroll past my posts.........glad to find that you and Invisible Fan read them. What would Iqbal think? Beyond disappointed.............and it is hard to imagine his expectations being met anytime soon. Politically, Israel might move to the center in the next few weeks if Sharon & Likud can't recover from their scandals. For Pakistan, a coup is the likely scenario for Musharraf......or his removal in some <i>other way</i>.
What now? Fox News is reporting that Chief UN Inspector Blix has found "no smoking gun" that suggests that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. The London Telegraph (via Drudge Report) says that England is asking the US to postpone war until autumn(!). Meanwhile Bush is still deploying more troops. Without the goods on Iraq, will we just invade them anyway? Bush is pigheaded enough to do it despite the rest of the world not being so sure. He had better pull a rabbit out of his @ss on this one because it may cost him the presidency.
Postponing the war is probably a good political move. Nothing could better server Bush's re-election bid than to start the Iraqi war in the summer of 2004. By the time the polls open in November, Iraq should be defeated and the American public will be feeling good about itself, after a good show of exercising our all mighty military muscle. All the potential bad things about the war (effect on the economy, nation building failure like in Ahganistan) will still be in the future. If you think that I am just being cynical or my usual anti-Bush self, just remember the "emerging Iraqi threat" Bush dropped on us in the heat of the 2002 midterm elections.
Mr. Clutch, I Understand your point about many simply painting the US in a bad light, and that is not at all what I am trying to do. I love this country and value the freedom more than anything, because I have extensively travelled the world and seen the horrors and lack of liberty. I have been in countries in which a spoken or written word contradicting a leader will have secret police take you and your family at night to be executed. I see myself as an American and my duty is to constantly critique my government to make it better. As a tax payer, I am a part owner of this country and I want the best future outlook for myself and my children. What I do not agree with is forcing American ideals on others. Forcing ideals upon others will never prove worthy in the long run and will create resentment. I prefer to simply have these nations be economic benefits and have them be appreciative of our products, services and innovations. What I don't want is adverse economic situations such as boycott's of US goods and services because of some foreign policy issues. I stated countries like Egypt and Algeria because the leaders are not the popular leaders and have not been elected. Instead they are contrary to most of the population, yet US funds have helped to maintain these ruthless regimes and the people blame the US. The friend of my enemy is my enemy. The irony of the idea of "democratization" is that look at who we have supported in the Middle East. Ruthless Monarchies - Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Deposed Shah of Iran Military Dictatorships - Algeria, Egypt While a country like Iran that has a democratically elected president (though the religious right can negate any law or election which is foolhardy) is farthest from the US though its taken to most steps to try to promote democracy. I see a parrallel with Iran and Israel in that both have democratically elected leaders, yet the religious right and the embedded theocratical nature of the government can manipulate the elections and must be changed to allow true free will of the people. I think it is in the best interests of the US to stop all support to the middle east until they resolve their differences and simply buy oil from them. I'm sure the oil will flow more readily when we eliminate economic sanctions on Iran, Iraq, Libya and other nations and they will readily sell us as much oil as we need. Do you ever see these vile dictators refusing funds?? If the people want freedom and democracy then it will happen and the US will not be blamed for much that it is today. I would rather have my tax funds be used to help educate our children than handouts to dictators to fund their regimes.
i have been critical of the president...i have been objective about him...i don't constantly defend him or the administration...i've been fairly critical of ashcroft..i've probably had more bad than good to say about ashcroft...you post an endless array of critical information on bush...you tout him as one of the worst presidents we've ever had...i've never once heard you say anything you like about the president or the job he's done. and then you start in with the conspiracy stuff....he waits to start wars for elections, etc. blah, blah, blah. real objective.
Chief of Staff Andy Card has been quoted as saying you don't introduce new products in August. What in the world might he be talking about?
I find it puzzling that you would, given the 20 years of constant war in that country, judge the reconstruction attempt a failure after one year. What exactly did you expect?
I liked that Bush signed the jobless benefits extension bill this week. He should have done it sooner, but you can't have everything I also agree with how Bush has handled Ahganistan. I really only started posting to this forum within the last year. If I had been around in this forum during the Clinton presidency, you would have seen me go after him too
I would imagine many democrats liked that bill. It will increase unemployment and provide a convenient data point for liberals to include in their economic criticisms.
This is perception over reality. Political opponnents can use this over Bush. Bush also can not regard Ahganistan as an unqualified "victory". And Bush certainly shouldn't be saying "we are going to rebuild Iraq just like we built Ahganistan" (though he does believe that the "Iraqi people love the US" so anything is possible).
No, that's not what I'm arguing. Unfortunately, many Republicans supported this. I disgreed with its inclusion in the bill as well as the unemployment benefits package has been included in the economic stimulus proposal.
above you say you agree with how bush has handled afghanistan (in response to my post.) which is it? yeah...i bet you would have really gone after bill clinton.
Both I think the US did as good a job as possible with Ahganistan. I do hope that our rebuilding efforts go well, since Ahganis could really use the help and a break from fighting each other. Bush's political opponents are another matter.
