sorry for lazy posting lately, but we're heading off to Washington DC till the end of the month. Between caring for the abandonded puppies (they are doing great, and will be spending the week with friends), packing for vacation and just trying to keep up with life, has left very little time for ruminating on the affairs of the day.
Good luck to the people of Iran, whatever they are going to do to rid themselves of the mullahs, they've got till, probably, the fall, at the latest, to make it happen for themselves. Otherwise Bush will unleash the hounds, meaning the ex-pat, resistance groups in the Iranian diaspora. How that will work out, is unclear at this time. But does anyone believe that he won't do something? Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Vegetarian; we all can agree that George W. is not Wm. Jefferson Clinton. Whether it's just his "stick-to-it-ive-ness" or an evil desire to control the world before the end of his second term; George W. Bush seems bent on implementing this new Mission Statement for America.
We are now about to complete year four of this new Way. Whether PNAC and the Bushies planned 9-11, allowed it to happen, or were just so far behind in the serious work of the Country, thanks to 8 years of playful indifference, that they were blind-sided like so many others; this is up to you to decide. My money is somewhere around the "allowed it to happen" box on the craps table of life.
Regardless of our differing views, we can all agreee the terrorists, officially, declared war on us in the 1990s. We responded with two terms of some top notch sound bites, apologies, and tempered responses; leading our enemies to burn our olive branch on 9-11, killing over 3,000 civilians. Bush has a hall pass from Americans to use the military as he sees fit, until that same number of GIs are KIA. Bush has suffered, as have we all, through about 2/3s of his allotment. On 9-11 the terrorists killed 3,000 innocents, they did not change anything. Rich white men, got richer, Al Gore kept counting chads, and somehow, within a few years of 9-11, the Red Sox won the world series. Americans were shocked for a day, but we were never awed (except, maybe by the Bosox).
9-11 showed the world what the terrorists could accomplish while spending most of their resources, and several years of planning and implementation. In the years since, Bush has shown the world what America can accomplish with the same number of lives of her own. Afghanistan; the Taliban who supported and harbored bin Laden, are gone. Iraq; Saddam Hussein is in prision awaiting trial for crimes against humanity. Libya; Qaddafi, for some strange reason, just grew up and decided to sit at the adult's table. Syria is under pressure to get out, and stay out ,of Lebanon, and now America is brandishing her military on Iraq's border with Syria. All this while the Democrats are spinning their wheels, stuck in the "we hate Bush" mud, and sinking deeper by the day.
Bush has another 1,000 troops to lose before Americans will grow weary of his way. Unless we are attacked at home again; then we will raise his "allowance" and let him loose on the world some more. What he can accomplish with the remainder of his 9-11 account is for the future to reveal. What the terrorists have to offer is painfully clear, chaos or global Islamic caliphate. What the loyal opposition at home offers is still very unclear, other than they promise to be the un-Bush.
22 June, 2005
Before, during and after
from onehouse prior2 6/22/2005 12:39:00 PM
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4 comments:
The key to Iraq is the Iraqi army. As they get more powerful we can reduce strength.
absolutely. The day the Iraqi army is able to keep things under control, our military can move on or move home. Iran is right next door, I don't think the mullahs are big fans of a strong Iraqi army. Not because they are afraid that Iraq would attack them again, but because our army would be free to continue the war on terror, wherever it leads (Tehran or Damascus). Not that I'm advocating military strikes in Iran or Syria, but if Bush ever gives one of his "get out of town by sundown" speeches to the mullahs; hold on tight.
I see Iraq as but one front in the global war on terrorism. I think you're wrong to say America will tire of war if our military KIA count reaches the death toll of the 9-11 attacks. If that were true, and Al Qaeda is, as all signs indicate, operating in around 60 countries, that would mean Americans would tire of the war on terrorism if we lost more than 50 soldiers fighting in any given terrorist-infected target country. Obviously, that's not the case.
Hopefully, I misunderstood you.
3,000 visible deaths. The CIA losing assets in Indonesia would not be deducted from Bush allowance. We are not overtly, militarily engaged in the 60 countries that al-queda supposedly operates within. We may be engaged on other levels, but Americans don't see those battles and casualties. Further, another strike against us on the homeland, or even another USS Cole type attack would give Bush a significant "raise".
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