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First the tough love. What's wrong with you? You've been drinking the Kool-Aid for too long! As a registered Republican I would rather chew my arm off than vote for GWB. The first thing you need to know is that your hero is not a Republican. He is a neo-conservative ("neo-con") of Leo Straussian fame. This club also includes Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and others. All of them subscribe to the main Straussian concept of reinforcing moral virtuosity through generous applications of fear. Have you not noticed how this administration talks of fear and danger? Can you think of any President who has said "we're in danger" as much as Bush has? Disagree yet? I thought so! You've been brainwashed son! Today's Lesson : Foreign Policy This is of greatest import especially for those of you who think Bush is doing a good job in this area. BTW, if you actually think this you may need to attend the special ed deprogramming class after school as well. Starting with the basics, first lets see if you've noticed how Bush has completely shifted US foreign policy to unilateralism and furthering isolationism? Do you understand what this means? Talking to experts in international relations and policy, one can quickly conclude that this change is a major destabilizing event in world politics. It creates tensions between the United States and the several other countries that are directly, indirectly, or even remotely effected by its actions. Some of these tensions are quick to reach a flash point and cause long term damage. In your naivete, you may think "Who cares?! We don't need Europe, or the UN! We'll be just fine on our own, thank you." While in your pathetic sheltered world that may seem all well and good, you will eventually learn the hard way that this is wrong. The problem is that I don't want to go on this prolonged and painful learning adventure with you, thank you very much!
The simple fact of the matter is that you cannot fight a global war on terror by yourself. It is not possible. No one country can solve a problem of this magnitude on its own. Not even the mighty US. Anyone who thinks the US can do this "with or without" anyone else is suffering from delusional arrogance. Our country's military capability is risking overuse as supplies and troop rotations continue to increase with no real in end yet in sight. Meanwhile you have trouble brewing in at least half a dozen countries that are slowly coalescing into REAL threats (in stark contrast to Iraq). Most notable are Korea and Iran but there's others like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan both of which risk falling into fundamentalist hands. What are we going to do when 100% of our military (and all the untrained guardsman we've already thrown in) have been on three or more back-to-back tours and they are exhausted, injured, and emotionally traumatised? What then? I tell you what: draft. If we carry on in Iraq, and Afghanistan, our military will not have the capacity to take on any other activity. And the total cost of these activities will be tremendous putting us at financial risk as well but that is a subject for another day. BTW, Bush's pre-emption policy is seen as a primary factor leading to Putin's decision to change fundamental electoral policy in Russia whereby he now summarily appoints regional governors in lieu of regional elections. He cited terrorism as the reason for this shortly after the kindergarden massacre. I don't think I need to tell you why that is a bad thing. On Iraq, do you honestly think that Bush was justified in going into Iraq and do you think that he, Cheney, or Rumsfeld were really basing their decisions on a REAL threat to the US? If so, please email me because I still haven't figured out what exactly they felt threatened by. And please don't belittle my intelligence with this humanitarian crap, OK?!? So the phantom WMD never materialised but yet Cheney says he would do it exactly the same way again. Why? Good question. Maybe the $2bn NO BID contract he scored for his former company and from which he continues to receive dividends is a good place to start. This is the same company that is under investigation in two countries for large scale fraud from the time when he was CEO. Maybe the real interest has something to do with the fact that Cheney, Halliburton, and Bush are all heavily involved in oil. Maybe just maybe there is another agenda, one that can't be mentioned on the front lawn of the White House. If we managed to secure the oil in Iraq we could get our testicles out of the OPEC vise. And remember what I just said about Saudi Arabia. If Saudi falls and the house of Saud gets killed or exiled, there goes all the Saudi oil. Oh shit! Oil prices skyrocket. So, sure, good idea to go into Iraq and secure a new source of oil. A great idea even but only if it would actually work. And it won't. Every day there is a new attack on the oil installations and pipelines. The place is crawling with insurgents that look just like everyone else. It has become the Mecca of terrorism and thousand upon thousands will do everything they can to keep America out. So good luck in getting it to work.
So instead, we will have spent $120 billion dollars on Iraq by the end of this year. Not to mention over 1,000 US soldiers have died and countless Iraqi lives have been destroyed. The cost of rebuilding a country is not cheap and $120bn will not be enough so expect Bush to divert more money or go back to the Republican congress to get even more money for Iraq. Some of this will go to top paid contractors (some from Halliburton, CSC, others) to rebuild the country. Meanwhile, amongst Arabs who already distrust the US for its schizophrenic foreign policy of years past (policy reversals on Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Israel, etc.), they now see America meddling in their backyard again. Many believe that America is getting more and more aggressive in the Middle East and they can no longer wait to do something about it. America must be stopped. So they sign up to support the swelling ranks of al Qaeda. Contrary to White House spin, al Qaeda is very much alive and well and it is growing. Many others who were not even religiously active, have now become so as a by-product of feeling threatened. You may not think their reaction is justified or even fair but it doesn't matter. So again, I ask, for what did we do this? What have we gained other than new and more resolved enemies? And don't forget we've also gained responsibility for a country that is virtually uncontrollable. We have opened Pandora's box. And really, was Iraq that much of a threat to warrant taking on this monumental a task? Did any of you sit awake at night worrying that Saddam was going to get you. No. You may have been frightened by bin Laden but Iraq? No, I don't think so. It just wasn't on anybody's minds except for Bush and Cheney. The country was contained by no fly zones. The UN was all over the place. The place was under control. Hussein was a bastard but he was a contained bastard. There were a couple of SAM sites, a bunch of busted rockets, and a lot of small munitions. That's it. There isn't a country on this planet that doesn't have that. Except for Lichtenstein maybe. So what was the rush? The evidence on yellow cake from Africa and cylinders to refine plutonium were either entirely bogus or sketchy at best and worst of all the administration knew this information to be dubious. Furthermore, the CIA knew there was nothing there, the cabinet knew it too. No links to 9/11, no links to al Qaeda, nothing. It has been proven recently, but it was actually known for some time. Cheney and Bush lied about this over and over. Why? When the CIA reported to the administration on the status of Iraqi WMD, there was so little evidence that Bush actually said "Is that it? We need more. Go back and get me more." They even ignored Hans Blix who spent exhaustive amounts of time in Iraq. But yet, 75% of Republicans think that Saddam Hussein was linked to al Qaeda and they think that there was indeed WMD. I say to that 75%, get your head out of your ass! Stop drinking the Kool Aid and wake up. There is nothing there! NOTHING! Meanwhile, it was investigated and concluded there was never any credible link to al-Qaeda nor WMD prior to the invasion. This has been proven so many times now it makes me sick. There is heaps of documentation pointing to these conclusions. Do you not read? Stop watching FOX! If you disagree, then show me the WMD! Where is it? Show me credible evidence that Hussein represented a credible threat. NO ONE has been able to meet this simple request. NO ONE!
To make it even worse large quantities of conventional munitions under the surveillance of the IAEA before the war, were lost during the fall of Baghdad. So instead of finding the weapons, we've lost them. Now people are being killed with them. And its not the troops fault. You can't pull that being disrespectful of the troops crap with me. The troops are doing what they're told. It is not their fault. Its the strategy and the goal and the lies that are faulty. So, its Bush's fault. It's Cheney's fault. It's Rumsfeld's fault. Its Tommy Franks's fault. And its also Powell's fault for placing a higher priority on his own career than doing what he knew to be right. Powell's inaction was especially painful as he knew the truth and he was not part of the agenda but yet he let the others bully him into it. Anyway, don't take my word for it. You should read about it. If you only ever read one book, make it Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward. If you want a non-partisan look at the build up to the Iraq war, this book will give you some insight into it. You will learn a lot. It will tell you how Colin Powell and Richard Armitage (deputy Secretary of State) studied the possibilities for a post-war Iraq for a year prior to the engagement. Their conclusion was very similar to recent CIA intelligence estimates: a post-Saddam redistribution of power in Iraq would at best result in tempered tribal instability with weak alliances and at worst it would result in a civil war. Their conclusion was that democracy was effectively "a bridge too far" for Iraqis. It is too different from what they are used to. So far that estimate appears to be correct. So you may wonder why Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld proceeded with their plan given that Powell's well researched conclusions were for a bad outcome. Well, it was because Donald Rumsfeld and Dickface Cheney didn't like that conclusion as it didn't fit their plans and so they decided to ignore it. Maybe you might wonder why the Pentagon was in charge of "post war" Iraq and not the State Department as was the original plan. Or maybe you didn't even know that. Well, its because Rumsfeld told Powell to take his year long study and shove it. Rumsfeld then set up a new division within the Pentagon which went on to ignore just about all of Powell's findings on Iraq. This may explain to you why we have the mess we do now. This may explain why over one year after Bush pulled that stupid aircraft carrier stunt, the battles still go on, the killings and bombings continue, the insurgents keep turning up. The body count per month is not going down. It is going up. And guess what, it isn't going to end anytime soon. Worst of all, Bush has alienated every potential ally other than Britain so we have no friends to help. And the British will not be there forever. The people of Britain are fed up with Blair. They cannot fathom how he has given in to the lies from the Bush administration. The lies that are so easy to see when you stand beyond the blinding geographical barriers of the US shores. If the Brits suffer any serious losses or even have just a couple of pretty bad days, you can expect Blair to go. He would lose the government as he almost did just before the war. If Blair goes, so does the support. Who else is there? No one. Oh, I forgot about Poland. Silly me! Bush seems to think Poland is very important. Guess what, its not. They have less troops than the amount of our dead. So their contribution really amounts to nothing. Unfortunately, we are now in a position where we pretty much have to deal with the whole thing all by ourselves. BTW, you should already know this if you actually paid attention to the debates. Did you not listen when Kerry pointed out that we are carrying 90% of the burden ourselves? Or did you simply discount the statement because Kerry said it? That ain't spin. Look it up. Its true. Enough on Iraq, what about 9/11 and the real threat? What about the August 6th PDB? Do you know how hard Bush tried to bury that one? Do you think Bush ever read that document prior to 9/11? I don't think so. He was on the longest holiday any serving president has ever taken(one month). He was in Crawford when the PDB was issued. With the "chatter" during July and August being the highest it had ever been, you wonder how he was comfortable doing nothing about it. Add on to that the recent bombings of the USS Cole, the African embassies, the attempt on LAX, and the base in Riyadh, you begin to see a pattern. Would you not at least have a meeting or two about it? He didn't. Not once. Condosleeza Rice testified before the 9/11 commission that she didn't get any feedback to that PDB and didn't bother to ask why not. It came and went unnoticed. Read the PDB. It makes me shiver every time I look at it. And let me ask you this; why did Bush have to testify with Cheney together at the 9/11 hearings? Since when has anyone ever testified with someone else at the same time? When? It defeats the purpose. Not to mention it ts totally suspicious. Its quite obvious that Cheney was running the show and Bush was in Crawford playing golf. So when question time came around, Bush wasn't confident enough of the answers (and was such a bumbling fool) that he would likely implicate himself if Cheney wasn't there to keep control. Finally, if you honestly think that Bush will do a better job on foreign policy, then why do we keep seeing videos of bin Laden looking like he just got back from a health spa?!? Why is that? I tell you why. It is because the war on terror took a giant detour into Iraq. Bush is not protecting you, he is putting you and I in further danger. Our former allies are further away from us then ever. No one may like Germany and France but they are important allies nonetheless. They are the most important part of the EU. Alienate them and you risk alienating all of Europe and Britain. People hate America more now than ever before. I spend most of my time travelling the world on business. I see it everywhere I go. Anti-American sentiment is unlike I have ever seen in it the past 15 years. And its not just me. Every one of the 6 million Americans abroad has felt it at one time or another. You may not care about the people in other countries but the majority of them vote and they vote for those that share their opinion. That ends tonight's lesson. Tomorrow we teach you why Bush is destroying the economy. |  |
Talk to me you silly little freaks! notnot@notsorrynoteverybody.com