Any Chance He Spelled It Wrong??
With the recent "revelations" about Iran assisting, aiding & abetting 8 of the 19 Saudi Arabian Al-Qaida participants who attacked the U.S. on 9/11, it makes one think that maybe President Bush not only can't speak very well, but maybe he can't spell very well either. If by some chance, in his instructions to his cabinet members, he misspelled Iran, that could explain why we attacked Iraq, even though they had nothing to do with 9/11, Al-Qaida, or WMD's. Iran, it seems, is the country that has links to Al-Qaida, helped the 9/11 attackers, and has WMD's!!
So, the question begs, why did we attack and invade Iraq, when Iran did the dirty deeds?!?!?
N, Q, what's in a letter. Bet Bush didn't know who was who and just mixed the 2 up by accident. Oh well. No harm no foul, Iraq was on the list of nations to attack, what's the difference who we attacked first. Won't really matter as it smells like Iran is next on the Bush hit list to throw the Axis of Evil off balance and win the War on Terror.
Just something else to think about as we head to the polls this November.
Friday, July 23, 2004
Friday, July 09, 2004
WHY ARE WE AT WAR?
Today, a bipartisan Senate committee released the first part of a report on the intelligence information used to build the case for the War in Iraq. The report says that "The key U.S. assertions leading to the 2003 invasion of Iraq - that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons and was working to make nuclear weapons - were wrong and based on false or overstated CIA analyses". The committee's ranking Democrat, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, said: "Tragically, the intelligence failures set forth in this report will affect our national security for generations to come. Our credibility is diminished. Our standing in the world has never been lower. We have fostered a deep hatred of Americans in the Muslim world, and that will grow. As a direct consequence, our nation is more vulnerable today than ever before."
In reaction to the report, President Bush, at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania acknowledged that the Senate report on U.S. intelligence on Iraq before the war "is quite critical" but stuck to his central point that toppling Saddam Hussein was still the right thing to do. Bush conceded the fundamental conclusion of the report but indicated he was misled by the intelligence agencies as were others. "I will remind you there have been some failures" in the intelligence agencies", Bush told a gathering of supporters. When President Bush was asked about the report in question and answer session at a rally, he replied by saying, "Listen, we thought there would be stockpiles of weapons. I thought so, the congress thought so, the U.N. thought so,".
The president's comments fly in the face of remarks made just a few days ago by White House spokesman Scott McClellan who said such stockpiles could still be found.
Despite the fact the report said Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction, Bush insisted that invading Iraq was still the right thing to do.
"I'll tell you what we do know, Saddam Hussein had the capacity to make weapons. He had the ability to make them, he had the intent. We knew he hated America," Bush said. "The world is better off without Saddam Hussein."
Bush said he plans to use the conclusions of the report as a basis for implementing reforms of the U.S. intelligence agencies.
"One of the key ingredients to winning the war on terror is to make sure the intelligence agencies provide the best possible intelligence to the executive branch as well as to the legislative branch," Bush said.
"We need to know. I want to know how to make the agencies better to make sure we are better able to gather the information necessary to protect the American people," he added.
Clearly, The Bush Administrations response to the report was to restate their "new and improved" reasons for the War in Iraq, "to free the Iraqi people and democratize the Middle East". Which, now that they haven't found WMD's and there is no link to Al-Qaida, and the scare tactics used to march the country to war have been proven to be deceptions based on false information, seems as good a reason as any, and hard to argue with if you are a good and moral person. Pretty reasonable to want to spread democracy and hard to argue that Saddam was a bad guy, so, lets go with it.
Whatever your political persuasion, you cannot be happy or proud that the government of your country manipulated bad information to justify an invasion of a sovereign nation halfway around the world putting our soldiers, domestic security, and financial stability in severe jeopardy. Patriotism aside, the War in Iraq is a fraud against the American people. We were convinced by the Bush Administration that the War was necessary and just. We were told that if we didn't invade Iraq and dethrown Saddam Hussien, our country would be in jeopardy of another 9/11 type attack on our homeland. We were pounded relentlessly by the President and all his cabinet secretaries, that without a full fledged War in Iraq, we would not be doing our moral duty to protect our citizens and the rest of the world.
In hindsight, that was all a bunch of blather used to justify the covert goals of President Bush and his team in the White House. Maybe one day we will know the "real" reasons that they wanted to invade Iraq. Some reasons seem sort of obvious. Maybe to secure the 2nd largest oil reserve in the world. Maybe to spur the economy with an expensive war and reconstruction project that would help all his constituents. Maybe to secure a foothold in the most strategically important region in the world. Maybe to revenge his daddy's assassination attempt. Maybe to just plain make himself relevant. Maybe one day we will know?
Today, a bipartisan Senate committee released the first part of a report on the intelligence information used to build the case for the War in Iraq. The report says that "The key U.S. assertions leading to the 2003 invasion of Iraq - that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons and was working to make nuclear weapons - were wrong and based on false or overstated CIA analyses". The committee's ranking Democrat, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, said: "Tragically, the intelligence failures set forth in this report will affect our national security for generations to come. Our credibility is diminished. Our standing in the world has never been lower. We have fostered a deep hatred of Americans in the Muslim world, and that will grow. As a direct consequence, our nation is more vulnerable today than ever before."
In reaction to the report, President Bush, at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania acknowledged that the Senate report on U.S. intelligence on Iraq before the war "is quite critical" but stuck to his central point that toppling Saddam Hussein was still the right thing to do. Bush conceded the fundamental conclusion of the report but indicated he was misled by the intelligence agencies as were others. "I will remind you there have been some failures" in the intelligence agencies", Bush told a gathering of supporters. When President Bush was asked about the report in question and answer session at a rally, he replied by saying, "Listen, we thought there would be stockpiles of weapons. I thought so, the congress thought so, the U.N. thought so,".
The president's comments fly in the face of remarks made just a few days ago by White House spokesman Scott McClellan who said such stockpiles could still be found.
Despite the fact the report said Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction, Bush insisted that invading Iraq was still the right thing to do.
"I'll tell you what we do know, Saddam Hussein had the capacity to make weapons. He had the ability to make them, he had the intent. We knew he hated America," Bush said. "The world is better off without Saddam Hussein."
Bush said he plans to use the conclusions of the report as a basis for implementing reforms of the U.S. intelligence agencies.
"One of the key ingredients to winning the war on terror is to make sure the intelligence agencies provide the best possible intelligence to the executive branch as well as to the legislative branch," Bush said.
"We need to know. I want to know how to make the agencies better to make sure we are better able to gather the information necessary to protect the American people," he added.
Clearly, The Bush Administrations response to the report was to restate their "new and improved" reasons for the War in Iraq, "to free the Iraqi people and democratize the Middle East". Which, now that they haven't found WMD's and there is no link to Al-Qaida, and the scare tactics used to march the country to war have been proven to be deceptions based on false information, seems as good a reason as any, and hard to argue with if you are a good and moral person. Pretty reasonable to want to spread democracy and hard to argue that Saddam was a bad guy, so, lets go with it.
Whatever your political persuasion, you cannot be happy or proud that the government of your country manipulated bad information to justify an invasion of a sovereign nation halfway around the world putting our soldiers, domestic security, and financial stability in severe jeopardy. Patriotism aside, the War in Iraq is a fraud against the American people. We were convinced by the Bush Administration that the War was necessary and just. We were told that if we didn't invade Iraq and dethrown Saddam Hussien, our country would be in jeopardy of another 9/11 type attack on our homeland. We were pounded relentlessly by the President and all his cabinet secretaries, that without a full fledged War in Iraq, we would not be doing our moral duty to protect our citizens and the rest of the world.
In hindsight, that was all a bunch of blather used to justify the covert goals of President Bush and his team in the White House. Maybe one day we will know the "real" reasons that they wanted to invade Iraq. Some reasons seem sort of obvious. Maybe to secure the 2nd largest oil reserve in the world. Maybe to spur the economy with an expensive war and reconstruction project that would help all his constituents. Maybe to secure a foothold in the most strategically important region in the world. Maybe to revenge his daddy's assassination attempt. Maybe to just plain make himself relevant. Maybe one day we will know?
Thursday, July 01, 2004
The Temperature Is Rising
Fahrenheit 9/11 is creating a tremendous amount of controversy, which is exactly what its creator, Michael Moore, intended. It will be the first movie of its kind that will become mainstream and will probably be the biggest money grossing documentary ever, along with the most widely viewed and distributed. In fact, I would not be surprised if it becomes the highest grossing film of the year, which in my opinion, would be a very good thing for our country and our democracy.
The movie is undoubtedly politically motivated and biased, yet it is factual. Michael Moore has decided to highlight the well known, as well as not so well known, information (factual & documented) about President Bush and his administration that many Americans either don't know or have been willing to ignore. Yet, after viewing the movie, its hard to deny the facts about President Bush and his administration. And, to be fair, it also shows alot about how the political process operates and is controlled by the rich and powerful. The movie highlights lots of what is wrong with the US political system and what is wrong within our society. And thats not partisan, it is unfortunately, very American, very bipartisan, and it clearly needs to be examined and changed.
Marines protecting oil workers get paid $40,000/year while Halliburton employees they are protecting earn $100,000/year. Soldiers get recruited from poor and run down neighborhoods in order to be sent to war to protect the priveleged. Troops don't know what they are fighting and killing people for and are having their lives changed permenantly for a cause that is unclear. Huge amounts of money are being spent in other countries to wage war and rebuild the embattled cities, when there is critical need for resources in the homeland. Our political system seems to operate with impunity and very few checks and balances, when that is what the system is supposed to be founded upon. These and other problems are highlighted throughout the movie, yet the main focus of debate is the political attack on President Bush.
Yes Michael Moore highlights how stupid and foolish President Bush is. Yes Michael Moore points out how much he relies on his advisors. Yes Michael Moore shows how much time he spends fishing, golfing, skeet shooting, and not being very Presidential. And yes Michael Moore points out all the cronyism within the Bush administration. But thats not Michael Moores fault, its President Bushs' fault. If the President wants to project a better image than he should read more, take an English course, have more 'unrelated' advisors & cabinet members, and spend more time being a President than a sportsman. Don't blame Michael Moore for showing you how the President acts or spends his time, blame the President.
I think what bothers us most about Fahrenheit 9/11 is the portrayal of the President who we as a country 'elected'. Therefore we are responsible for him being in power and that is a very poor reflection on us personally. It bothers us that we hired this guy and we haven't fired him yet, even though he is a stupid loaf and is doing a very bad job. Forget that he marched us to War under false pretense. Nothing Michael Moore has done makes Bush act the way he does. Moore just shows it to us in a clear and unflattering way. I am not sure it can be shown in anything other than an unflattering way. Bush is just plain embarrassing. If that was your child or husband, would you be proud? I wouldn't be.
What is the most alarming about the movie is the horror of the War that now seems based on a deception of the American people and Congress. We were tricked into believing that the War was necessary to protect the US homeland from a nuclear attack. Michael Moore does make some inferrences throughout the movie that are questionable, but nothing that every viewer doesn't think as they watch the movie and/or reflect on the past 2 years. War is ugly and sometimes there is no alternative. This War was not mandatory.
With regards to Iraq, there clearly was no necessity and there were alternatives. Now we as a country are stuck in a very bad situation that was decided upon and created by President Bush. He chose this and we have to live with it, personally and as a country even after he is out of office. It is not affecting him, his family, or his life. And, in fact, it makes his presidency relevant and important. It is actually helping him, his family, and his friends. At the same time it is destroying lives, American credibilty around the world, and financial resources. It is also inciting anti-Americanism around the world, something that could take decades to repair and will have immeasurable consequences, including more terrorism against Americans.
And what does President Bush say about all this..."Bring it on". "We will not leave Iraq until the job is done." "The War on Terror is moral and I must protect the American people." "Fool me once, shame on...uh, you. Fool me twice, shame on uh, ..." When you see the movie you will judge for yourself who is to blame. Michael Moore is certainly not the one to blame for the the last 3 years of the Bush presidency.
Fahrenheit 9/11 is creating a tremendous amount of controversy, which is exactly what its creator, Michael Moore, intended. It will be the first movie of its kind that will become mainstream and will probably be the biggest money grossing documentary ever, along with the most widely viewed and distributed. In fact, I would not be surprised if it becomes the highest grossing film of the year, which in my opinion, would be a very good thing for our country and our democracy.
The movie is undoubtedly politically motivated and biased, yet it is factual. Michael Moore has decided to highlight the well known, as well as not so well known, information (factual & documented) about President Bush and his administration that many Americans either don't know or have been willing to ignore. Yet, after viewing the movie, its hard to deny the facts about President Bush and his administration. And, to be fair, it also shows alot about how the political process operates and is controlled by the rich and powerful. The movie highlights lots of what is wrong with the US political system and what is wrong within our society. And thats not partisan, it is unfortunately, very American, very bipartisan, and it clearly needs to be examined and changed.
Marines protecting oil workers get paid $40,000/year while Halliburton employees they are protecting earn $100,000/year. Soldiers get recruited from poor and run down neighborhoods in order to be sent to war to protect the priveleged. Troops don't know what they are fighting and killing people for and are having their lives changed permenantly for a cause that is unclear. Huge amounts of money are being spent in other countries to wage war and rebuild the embattled cities, when there is critical need for resources in the homeland. Our political system seems to operate with impunity and very few checks and balances, when that is what the system is supposed to be founded upon. These and other problems are highlighted throughout the movie, yet the main focus of debate is the political attack on President Bush.
Yes Michael Moore highlights how stupid and foolish President Bush is. Yes Michael Moore points out how much he relies on his advisors. Yes Michael Moore shows how much time he spends fishing, golfing, skeet shooting, and not being very Presidential. And yes Michael Moore points out all the cronyism within the Bush administration. But thats not Michael Moores fault, its President Bushs' fault. If the President wants to project a better image than he should read more, take an English course, have more 'unrelated' advisors & cabinet members, and spend more time being a President than a sportsman. Don't blame Michael Moore for showing you how the President acts or spends his time, blame the President.
I think what bothers us most about Fahrenheit 9/11 is the portrayal of the President who we as a country 'elected'. Therefore we are responsible for him being in power and that is a very poor reflection on us personally. It bothers us that we hired this guy and we haven't fired him yet, even though he is a stupid loaf and is doing a very bad job. Forget that he marched us to War under false pretense. Nothing Michael Moore has done makes Bush act the way he does. Moore just shows it to us in a clear and unflattering way. I am not sure it can be shown in anything other than an unflattering way. Bush is just plain embarrassing. If that was your child or husband, would you be proud? I wouldn't be.
What is the most alarming about the movie is the horror of the War that now seems based on a deception of the American people and Congress. We were tricked into believing that the War was necessary to protect the US homeland from a nuclear attack. Michael Moore does make some inferrences throughout the movie that are questionable, but nothing that every viewer doesn't think as they watch the movie and/or reflect on the past 2 years. War is ugly and sometimes there is no alternative. This War was not mandatory.
With regards to Iraq, there clearly was no necessity and there were alternatives. Now we as a country are stuck in a very bad situation that was decided upon and created by President Bush. He chose this and we have to live with it, personally and as a country even after he is out of office. It is not affecting him, his family, or his life. And, in fact, it makes his presidency relevant and important. It is actually helping him, his family, and his friends. At the same time it is destroying lives, American credibilty around the world, and financial resources. It is also inciting anti-Americanism around the world, something that could take decades to repair and will have immeasurable consequences, including more terrorism against Americans.
And what does President Bush say about all this..."Bring it on". "We will not leave Iraq until the job is done." "The War on Terror is moral and I must protect the American people." "Fool me once, shame on...uh, you. Fool me twice, shame on uh, ..." When you see the movie you will judge for yourself who is to blame. Michael Moore is certainly not the one to blame for the the last 3 years of the Bush presidency.