Tonight more WMD`s(Weapons Of Mass Deception).Why is no one commenting on the Russian visit to Iraq?I was wondering just when the Russians would start payback for Afganistan,the downing of helicopters in both Iraq and Afganistan by rockets seems to be ushering in the retribution,however,you won```t hear any of that tonight.

Did I really hear this man correctly...did Bush call this a 'Third World War'?

I wish I could get this on CSPAN3, because they always show him from the back, also, and you can spot his Puppet talking box on his back.

His facial expressions absolutely make me nauseous!

And look at the cameras pan the military audience.
Gawd, I wish they would all get up and walk out!!

Bush is not just talking about Bin Laden - he's quoting the guy!

Did anybody count how many times he said "September 11th"? Or how many times he said some version of "terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrists"?

Can't Karl Rove teach the guy a few additional vocabulary words....ever?

I don't understand how we as a nation can keep letting this happen. Wasn't it only a few years ago when the President representing our party lied to the country and got impeached? Why isn't anyone in this country talking about impeachment procedures...especially when a President misled the country into a war in which we cannot get out of.

By the way, the topic of September 11 was mentioned 5 times, I believe.

It would be tragic is Bush caught bin Laden. Who would he blame, then, for the insurgency in Iraq or for future attacks on American soil? Oh wait! I think I know the answer. Didn't I just read that the FBI is focussing on animal rights activists in the U.S.?

IMAGINE THIS: It's Saturday and you decide to go to the mall and pick up some things, you get in line and a new person gets in line, they look like any other shopper untill THEY BLOW THEMSELVES UP, killing 15-20 and injuring 20 more. It's Sunday and you and the family go to Church, usually you sit up in the front but you are late and have to sit in the back, all of a sudden THE FRONT OF THE CHURCH BLOWS UP, LUCKY you sat in the back.
This could very easily happen here, maybe not as dramatic as 9/11 but after a few time's in different cities, maybe yours, maybe mine. When you look at it thru a wide angle lens or not, we are better off and safer with the fighting going on in Iraq and not in our cities.
I also think you forget that even if we catch OSB, A Q is far bigger than him, it wouldn't stop them it would probably make them worse. Don't forget, they have nothing but time to plan these terrible things in the name of Alla.

I also cannot believe that The President of the United States- who claims that he doesn't deal with terrorists- would actually quote one to try to prove his point to the American people. He really did quote Bin Laden in his big speech tonight, right? This really seems completely inappropriate on the highest level to me.

Why is Bush allowed to have the Corporate Military in Iraq? Bush never mentioned one word in his staged speech about his Fascist corporate cronies "hired military" in Iraq that are fighting, with higher pay than the U.S. Military, for the corporations that are profiteering off their war in Iraq. This Fascist Bush Administration is a disgrace to all previous administrations.

If the Fascist Bush Administration really wanted to get Osama bin Laden, the CIA could have easily have gotten him. Bush and his administration do not intend to kill Osama bin Laden or even arrest him. If Bush is forced to, in order to save face, Bush may try to make it appear that he did get Osama bin Laden, but it is not Bush's intention to arrest or kill Osama bin Laden as they are childhood friends. Bush knows Osama bin Laden is in on the whole scheme and has been from the start, or there would have not been any reason for Bush to lie so inveterately on 9/11 and 09/12 and thereafter.

It is plain to anyone who isn't brain washed that Bush cares nothing about the Political LEFT. Mr. Selected President should quit and save the taxpayers the money of impeaching him. If Bush doesn't quit, impeachment will be forced on him. A way will be made. Bush acts like he thinks the Political RIGHT has a strangle hold on the Political LEFT and the Political LEFT can't do anything about it, but hide and watch. When God is for you, no one can be against you, and God is for the Political LEFT not being down trodden. God will help the Political LEFT, just like he helped Moses, and the Political LEFT will overcome.

Mr. Selected President has lied too many times and made a mockery of God too many times and there is one thing I know for certain, God is not mocked. What so ever you sow, that you shall also reap. God is not mocked, Mr. Selected President.

GOD BLESS AMERICA GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS IN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES AND BRING ALL OF THEM HOME.

I disagree about getting Bin Laden. Rumsfeld said the other day that the 'insurgency has no vision' and it 'has no Ho Chi Minh'.

This is where I think he's 'dead wrong' and it's another reason why the Bush Administration is not anxious to make a martyre out of Osama Bin Laden.

Is the Administration not leveling with the American public and the world about this?

Maybe.

Has this Administration ever lied to us before?

Naaa...

The Lonely Professor...

Catch bin Laden?

They still haven't caught Zarqawi, and we have several times as many troops in Iraq (where he is) than we have looking for bin Laden. Then again, there was a report out last year that we knew where Zarqawi was back when we invaded, but we didn't think he was important enough to take into custody back then, and he didn't even make it onto the deck of cards as a 'most wanted' in Iraq.

If you really think the Bush Administration is set on getting Osam Bin Laden, take a look at these and think long and hard about it:

http://thelonelyprofessor4.blogspot.com/
http://musingsfromthelonelyprofessor.blogspot.com/

Zarqawi is a little fish compared to Osama Bin Laden.

Osama Bin Laden has mystical qualities about him, much like Ho Chi Minh.

Ho Chi Minh had a reward on his head, also, and we never caught up with him.

He died an old man from natural causes, I believe in 1969. I was in Viet Nam when it happened. I remember it well.

To the Arab World, Osama Bin Laden is not the 'monster' we Americans have painted him.

He is something of a folk hero and his enigma and popularity grows each day, especially amongst Arab youth.

This is the reason why the insurgency never fails to find new recruits.

Kill Osama and make a martyr out of him and his legend will never die.

A holy cause needs a martyr.

I think this is what we need to avoid.

Nature itself will eventually catch up to Osama Bin Laden.

No need for us to add to his glory.

Get my drift?

American soldiers are discovering that killed or captured Taliban fighters in Afghanistan are equipped with identical radio equipment and arms, a pretty reliable indicator that they are being equipped and financed across the lines in Pakistan.

During the old war with the Soviets, the Reagan Administration actually used both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to recruit Osama Bin Laden and others as leaders to establish and train Mujahedin fighters to battle the Soviets in a well financed covert CIA war against the Soviet invasion. The Mujahedin bases were established in remote areas of Afghanistan and in Pakistan.

Probably Osama Bin Laden is already in Pakistan, and may be directing and managing the flow of freshly supplied fighters into Afghanistan. There is a huge cash crop of drugs from Afghanistan, so financing a military is no problem for the Taliban or Al Qaeda fighters. Drug revenues may run as much as 9 billion this year, up sharply from previous years, as American eradication plans have been pretty much blunted by the President of Afghanistan for a number of reasons.

Making use of the old antiSoviet Mujahedin network in Pakistan, Osama Bin Laden can easily slip into this network and hide and conduct military management operations for years.

It may be very difficult to fish Osama Bin Laden out for that reason, and with the fresh downing of an American helicopter, this terrorist network may be improving it's skills and re-equipped for more effective combat against the Americans. One big fear is that they may copy the tactics against the Soviets where they capture prisoners and execute them on camera to raise fear in the Americans to leave. This tactic caused many Soviets to fear, and many fled combat duties. The Mujahedin learned many devious skills, sometimes from CIA training, such as terrorism against schools and school teachers to inspire fear in the Soviets or those who cooperated with them.

The covert CIA war in Nicaragua was not the only covert war during the Reagan Administration. The support for the Mujahedin network in Afghanistan was the second large scale major covert war effort of the Reagan Administration. But like a Frankenstein's monster that turned on it's creator, this has come back to hurt America with 9/11 a direct result of the covert Reagan policy of Mujahedin support that helped to create both the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

PROGRESSIVE VALUES

Lonely Professor:

No, I do not get your drift.

Osama bin Laden will not be any more a martyr than Sadaam Hussein has been a martyr. We, the people of the Political LEFT, should not be any more concerned about the martyrdom of Osama bin Laden than we were concerned about Sadaam Hussein. Osama bin Laden, not Sadaam Hussein, attacked the United States. How much concern did the United States have with the martyrdom of Sadaam Hussein?

Most likely Osama Bin Laden lives, is financed and directs Al Qaeda operations from Dubai, The United Arab Emirates. That's where the money came from that supported the September 11th.

Paul Hooson:

President Select Bush is not and has not even looked for Osama bin Laden and did his damndest to throw off what was blamed on Osama bin Laden on to Sadaam Hussein, as if the people of the United States and the world are stupid; but the people haven't bought it. President Select Bush is a curse to our nation and the world.

shows at least some awareness of what will win elections and that is a Democratic focus and ending Osama.

Rove and Bush can't be allowed to claim 9/11 and tie it to Iraq. Democrats need to throw 9/11 in their faces and ludly, and repeatedly call for Osama's head. America needs to hear every day that Iraq is the reason Osama is still alive and that Democrats will make sure he is brought to justice no matter what sovereign state he tries to hide in.

That plus health care will win election. Hand wringing and calling for troop withdrawls without a plan to fight the chief terrorists will not win any votes

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0629/p02s01-usmb.html

We did not get a verification email after we donated through the Democracy Bonds last night. Have any others had the same problem? We always get one right away. Also I posted this last night, but I don't see it anywhere.

Like the new site. Like the way the chairman is trying to change the party funding. Open thread is too long to post on, so I put it here.

Also, I see that Howard Dean will be on Hardball tonight at 7:00 on MSNBC. Not fond of Chris Matthews anymore, but will be good to see Dean. He must be via satellite from SC.

Listening to President Bush last night, I could not help but think about another Texas President who made a very similar speech almost exactly 40 years ago today about the need for America to continue fighting another war in another far off land.

That President was Lyndon Baines Johnson and that war was Vietnam.

On the 28th of July, 1965, Lyndon Baines Johnson, more eloquently, more humbly, and more sincerely than George W. Bush last night, exhorted the country to stay the course by claiming "I do not find it easy to send the flower of our youth, our finest young men into battle."

Last night George W. Bush echoed Johnson's sentiment with his claim that "Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed. Every picture is horrifying, and the suffering is real."

Neither President willingly chose to give these speeches.

Rather, both Presidents were forced to give these speeches to shore up plummeting support for their interventions in far off lands after casualties mounted and it became apparent to the American people that these wars were going to be long protracted affairs with no clear guarantees of success.

Both Presidents claimed the stakes were high and both invoked versions of the "domino" theory.

Johnson claimed that if we pulled out of Southeast Asia the other non-communist nations there would fall to communist aggression.

Bush claimed last night that if we pull out of Iraq, non-terrorist nations in the Middle East would fall under the control of terrorists.

Both claimed to be reluctantly fighting to defend freedom. Of the two men, Johnson was more eloquent with his claim that "we did not choose to be the guardians at the gate."

Both claimed to offer the American people clear cut plans to achieve success, with Johnson announcing troop escalations from 75,000 to 125,000 troops, and a doubling of the draft call, while Bush stated that we would stand firm with the 130,000 troops we have in Iraq now and that we would continue to train the Iraqi Defense Force (much like the ARVN in Vietnam) to take over our role there so that we could someday eventually leave Iraq.

Before the Vietnam War was over, the number of U.S. troops there would rise from 75,0000 Johnson mentioned to peak at well over a half a million men and still there was no American victory to be found in Vietnam.

At the time of Johnson’s speech, approximately 400 American servicemen had already died in Vietnam. As Bush spoke last evening, there were already around 1,740 American dead or more than four times as many as when Johnson gave his “We Will Stand in Vietnam” speech.

Less than three years after Johnson's speech, there would be over 11,000 dead American servicemen, our marines would be under siege at Khe Sahn, our soldiers would be fighting off the Tet Offensive even inside our own embassy in Saigon and Johnson himself would be announcing that he would neither seek nor accept another term as our President.

By the end of the war on the 30th of April of 1975, there would be approximately 58,226 American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines killed or missing in action in Vietnam.

Must we wait for that many deaths before we put a stop to the misadventures of this new Texas President in Iraq?

On the 23rd of April 1971, a young lieutenant in the United States Navy, a decorated war hero who had earned the Silver Star named John Kerry, poignantly asked the United States Senate and the American people about that tragic war in Vietnam the important question –

“How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?”

We need to ask ourselves that same question today and every day from now on about the war in Iraq -

“How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for George Bush’s mistake?”

Douglas J. De Clue
Orlando, FL
ddeclue2@earthlink.net

I posted earlier, but apparently it got dropped, so I will say again that we should pull out of Bosnia first! That war was started over 5 years ago and we need to get out of there.

Second, we need a Congressional hearing to understand why the President turned down Osama Bin Laden when Sudan offered him.

Osama would not have been an issue if the President, who is on tape, would have taken him!

well it looks like those crooked republicans have done it again, they have no integrity, first "thetruth" has infotrated the last place that the acctual truth is still spoken, you'll find this Republican infotrader on the blog about exploiting 9/11. secondly we need to be calling for President Bush's resignation and since it is going to be election year soon for members of the legislature we need to start writing to our state represenitives and senetors to start demanding not only that Bush appolagize to the country but that they open an investigation in to the Bush administration for criminal activity, this is the time when we can show our true strength because this is the time when republicans can be hurt the most,with the downing street memo now in the media we can call for the truth or prove that the republicans have something to hid. Bush's speech proves that the memo is hurting them by his blatent attemp to try to once again fasely link iraq to the 9/11.we must show resolve and push hard for an investigation and that there days are numbered. each time they refuse to let the truth be known the we show they have somthing to hide. One thing is for sure, this intrustion by the republicans should not go unpunished, they invaded us trying to push their lies onto us I say lets fight back and invade them at www.gopteamleader.com and expose the real truth to them, Bush has once again shown he has no morals, the Republicans have shown they have no morals, and now those who follow them have shown that not only do they have no moral but that they have no respect. Now is the time to fight back, elections time is when they are volnerable and the polls show they are slipping in the public eye, everytime they try to get away with there lies we nee to show the public that they are hidding the truth and keep asking the question, why refuse to investigate the validity of the downing street memo. we must do more than write letters to news papers and write on the blog but need to draw more media attention and make the public aware of the extent of corruption of the Republican party, if we speak up enough they can't keep ignoring us. I call all democrats wheather in office or regular citizens to do everything possible to force the media to hear us out.

Iraq, a Diversion and Training Ground for Bin Laden’s Goal
Pakistan’s Nuclear weapons

After 9/11, we went into Afghanistan with the intention of destroying terrorism. We should have sent the 250 thousand troops there, instead of Iraq, and totally crushed Al Qaeda. This would have cut off communication, support and financial aide to the terror cells around the world. One must remember that we had virtually the entire world on our side at that time. The terror cells would have withered on the vine or a few last terror attacks may have occurred. There would have been no morphing of the organization into what it has become today.

Richard Clark was correct in that our invasion of Iraq was an Allah sent gift to the Bin Laden movement. Most of our forces are occupied in Iraq and this makes it far easier for Bin Laden to pursue his primary goal of taking down the Pakistani government and gaining control of the nuclear weapons in that country. We must remember that a quarter to a third of the Pakistani armed forces are Al Quada sympathizers. We know that at least three attempts have been made to assassinate Pakistan’s President Musharraf. Fortunately, these attempts have failed. Have no doubt that Bin Laden is now trying to organize another and has had a couple of more years to plan for it.

Many of the new Darwinian trained terrorists in Iraq have undoubtedly moved into Pakistan. Bin Laden realizes that once the U.S. has trained enough Iraqi personnel to take over security that this will free up our forces to concentrate on the real war on terror. Sometime before this occurs, he will make another attempt. If Bin Laden is successful and manages to gain control of these weapons, we only have at most a few of hours to destroy them.

Bin Laden knows this and would remove the warheads and disperse them. One frightening scenario would be to smuggle them onto ships bound for the western United States and western Europe with suicide bombers on board. If the ships were intercepted prior to arriving in port, the warheads would be detonated off the coasts of the United States and Western Europe. The prevailing west to east winds would carry the fallout over heavily populated areas causing untold death and suffering.

We would have to destroy these weapons before they were dispersed. Not even one could be missed; even if it required a low yield nuclear weapon to do so. And of course this would not help our standing in Muslim countries. It would be devastating to our relations with this part of the world, even more so than now. With our credibility gone after the lack of WMD in Iraq, who would believe us?

The Iraq invasion was a mistake more profound than anyone wants to admit. We pulled out intelligence assets out of Afghanistan as well as many forces needed to end the Bin Laden threat, which is far greater than any that Sadam had posed. I sincerely hope that this administration is aware of this and has plans to stop it before it occurs. The result of failure is too horrific to contemplate.

Clicked from a link on Daily Kos. First thing I saw was the summary of this post: "Bush doesn't get it. There's an easy way to make sure we don't 'yield the future of the Middle East' to bin Laden: catch him." My first thought was, "Fuck yeah!" Not proud that my first thought involves profanity, but I'm really impressed that Democrats are in a fighting mood.

Makes me feel like contributing again, even though I just did two weeks ago. I guess I'll wait until the MSM finds some reason to get "offended" by Dean. It feels good to watch Dean do everything right.

I've read references to the 24 rationals for war. What are they and can I get a list of them?

Several of my conservative republican associates keep throwing quotes from democratic politicians that supported the idea of overthrowing Sadaam Hussein on the grounds of possession of WMDs and ties to terrorist. Most of these quotes began to surface around 1998 and later. Is there a link to the obvious missinformation being given to our national leaders at that time and the group known as The Project for a New American Century?

Martha:

The difference between Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein is that Osama Bin Laden has the protection of Allah and is truely percieved by Muslims to be fighting a Holy War for Islam, where Saddam was not.

Another thing, the spectre of defeat is greater for us in dealing with Osama Bin Laden because of the money that supports him and for the fact that he has a religion on his side.

Not even Ho Chi Minh had that.

This is why the situation with Osama Bin Laden is pretty scary for the U.S.

It's simple! Saddam did not attack us Osama did! Bush needs to get a plan to get us out of Iraq and use our forces correctly and go after the true "Evil Doer"! Bush is so far off track and has done so much damage to our country, I can tell you this if he was a Democrat the Republican's would be shouting Impeachment!

Bush is also protecting even if it be by just neglect of the true "Evil Doer" of 9/11.

Didn't anyone think it odd that just when Bush was looking to be in trouble just before the election, up pops Osama to save the day? I'd love to have the White House phone records. How much you want to bet a call was made to Prince Bandar? I still feel Bush knew something was going to happen to save his presidency which was in trouble at the time. I don't think he knew exactly what, but was aware something was in the works.
Why have not the Democrats demanded a full investigation of Bush and company? I know, the Republicans control and unlike the Democrats, they will not allow their President to be subjected to too much scrutiny.
Like Bob Graham says in his "Intelligence Matters", if the failings of this administration do not beg for Impeachment, then what does?

2006 mid-terms are coming! We must ensure the Dem's retake at least one of the houses of Congress. In doing the investigations have a chance of becoming reality as well as the possibility the truth might, finally, see the light of day!

Scary is right and with the pretend cowboy in the White House its worse! Phrases like "Dead or Alive" " Bring Em, On" and calling the people of Iraq "Folks", I am angered by this daily. The facts are he (Mr. Bush) has wrecked our Country and its Reputation he should be impeached. Clinton may have had personal problems that may have shamed the American people but his sins did not cost the American people over 1700 lives that could have been spared with diplomacy. Bush doesn't understand that word. "Bring Em On " indeed bring on the Impeachment hearings for George W. Bush! It's time the Donkey took the Elephant to the woodshed for the American People. It's time for all of us to stand up and say no more of this, have a plan ready to show the American people a true and honest way out of Iraq or Impeachment is over due Mr. Bush!!!

The rise of Islamic terrorism started long ago before the turn of the 20th century. The Wahabbism was fommented during the last sputterings of the British and French imperialism/colonialism in the Middle East. The reason the British were wary, and the French just plain refused to help the US invade Iraq, is that they knew the of the failure that would result trying to control and invade those regions. Trying to call the invasions spreading freedom and democracy is a total farce.

Many of the higher educated Arabs and Muslims, are similar to the US neonazi-Aryan home terrorists in that they have felt demeaned and discriminated against and see the West and open societies as the enemy. Like Ho Chi Minh, they were educated in the West and at first supported the ideology, but when they were faced with the reality of the hypocrisy and their isolation and mistreatment by the system, they took to extremist religious philosophies leading to terrorist actions, to provide and answer relief.
The mentality fueling the Islamic style terrorism has been planted and is also feeding off the age old disgruntled resentment of the lower classes, poor, and powerless(midras in Pakistan, elsewhere funded by Saudis.)

Conservatives and Republicans like to blame the victim and say "So what take it." and belittle the liberal idea of trying to change the system to prevent the mistreatment. They say we are coddling or appeasing them. Using the military to strike back when directly provoked as Clinton did, isn't coddling, and using rigorous diplomacy versus invasion/threats is the solution. Plus, Bush's use of the violence isn't to really free the Middle East citizens, so much as put in place another pro-American puppet regime using currupt voting. Conservatives have no memory of the fact it was their presidents, who supported and propped up all of the Middle Easten despots and crazies, all in the fight against 'Communism'. They have intentionally fueled their next worldwide Boogyman/strawman.

Another factor is the international corporations using the US military war machine and it's citizens to break open areas for access to resources, energy, and wealth. By manipulating the emerging democracies to allow permanent control and access, the propped up governments are no different than the dictators we previously supported. It's whoever we can get in control to hand the US it's oil, and corporations it's markets for profiteering. The countries that CHOOSE to elect and implement more socialistic/citizens protection policies are tagged undemocratic and ripe for change. To understand this look to our own backyard of CAFTA and S. America, and how the US is trying to force the OAS into creating a US engineered type of commission to Observe Democratic Reforms in Latin American countries.

The Middle East and the Latin American regions are huge meaty wealthy nuts in need of cracking for rampant exploitation and raw resources grabs. The War on Terror is just the ploy by international powers to justify their rampages and powergrabs. Many fascists from WWII Europe, moved to the Latin American regions during the '30's in hopes of starting a front against the US. The rightwing paramilitaries in Latin Am. are lingering vestiges, and have been supported by many Republican Presidencies, ie Reagan/Bush. What's scary is that there are small movements of immigration into Latin coutries and conversion to the more extreme Islam.

Unless the USA works instead to break the stranglehold of the INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL BANK/CORPORATION POWER& CONTROL of the flow of wealth, good, and resources, AND OPENS THE ACCESS TO CITIZENS WORLDWIDE.
*POCKETS OF TERRORISM WILL HIDE AND GROW EVERYWHERE, JUST LIKE BREAKING UP A NEST OF ANYTHING THAT CAN GROW FROM PIECES DISPURSED.
*YOU HAVE TO TAKE AWAY THE FOOD FROM WHICH IT FEEDS, ONLY THEN IT CANNOT GROW. IMPLEMENTING FAKE SOLUTIONS WON'T SOLVE IT. PEOPLE CAN TELL WHAT IS REAL DEMOCRACY FROM PUPPET ADMINISTRATIONS/REGIMES.

(I wanted to use an analogy to biological networked systems, but someone would've not looked to the system similarities and assumed instead a cultural bigotry as the intent.)

You need to read these two articles, actually three, by the Lonely Professor:

http://musingsfromthelonelyprofessor.blogspot.com/
http://thelonelyprofessor4.blogspot.com/

Click on 'the Lonely Professor' for the other one (for your convenience).

I thought it was a great speech the President gave.

Why was my comment deleted?

Bush gets it. His allies get it, his father gets it, his Saudi royal friends get it, his financial partners get it. They've "gotten it" throughout three generations of their political lives since the Dulles boys.

The Democratic party gets it at times, but only in private conversations with people familiar with our government who know damn well the Iraq war was not conducted in a manner to bring about victory as customarily defined. And very few understand what Bush's mission actually was.

Mission WAS accomplished. Bin Laden's people did the work required of them, the wars perpetuated another term of Bush, this country's being sold off to Asian and Saudi Arabian interests, we won't get health care, worker rights, job opportunities or a reliable economy. We WILL get perpetual war in Iraq and a drain on our economy until we resemble a poor central American nation. Defenseless and lawless. Mission accomplished.

Democrats: Expose those in our government be they Dems or Reps, who have committed treason. Yes impeachment of Bush, but we'll need more than just the Downing Street minutes. In spite of this, don't give up hope. Knowledge IS power.

ff

One word that this administration loathes: QUAGMIRE. It is a simple and effective way to get under their skin and make them go apoplectic (Quagmire). It should be embedded in our language, creep into all interviews and discussions about Iraq. IraQuagmire. IraQuagmire. IraQuagmire.

My reason for being against the Iraq war from the start was based on instinct. I stopped hearing reports about the hunt for Al Quaeda and all I heard about was Saddam Hussein. It didn't seem right. I wanted to know, and still do, that Al Quaeda and those who follow a distortion of a religion that glorifies suicide and homocide are wiped from the face of the earth. I never lost any sleep wondering if Iraq was going to attack us.

I used to think that maybe capturing Bin Laden was put off at first because we weren't prepared for the lashback. But if that were the case, why have so many of the resources that could have been used to prepare us been used on a country that had nothing to do with 9/11? The main reason I dislike this administration is because they don't work for the American people. They work for themselves and for those who helped them gain power. I believe that's why NYC and DC voted 9-1 against this administration. The tragedies in those cities were exploited to promote a war based on an idea, not on fact and national defense. It drained resources from the necessary war against those who already attacked us. We might be the mightiest nation this world has ever seen but we still have a finite amount of resources. It's about priorities. Is it so crazy to presume that most Americans want to see the defeat of the perpetrators of 9/11 more than the removal of a cruel dictator whose military has been beaten up and boxed in for over a decade because he invaded Kuwait for making him go broke by lowering the price of oil.

Didn't the 9/11 commission disentangle the whole 9/11-Iraq connection. Why did I have to cheer when I finally heard John Kerry in his 2004 campaign, 3 whole years after the attacks, simply state that Al Quaeda should come before Iraq in the war on terror. It's great that there's a whole thread dedicated to this subject here. But why did it take until 2005? It's easy to put down the Bush administration. Their lies are a huge factor in how we got off track. But I think even the representatives in our own party let us down by worrying more about their careers and getting in line behind the king instead of keeping an active democracy functioning even in a time of crisis. What's so politically poison about saying we need to direct at least as much, if not more, force toward fighting those who have already attacked us and made their intentions known than to Iraq?

The Lonely Professor:

What do you mean Allah only cares about Osama bin Laden? Allah surely does care about Saadam Hussein, otherwise Saadam Hussein would be dead, he would have been killed in all that bombing, yet he lives. God definitely has kept Saadam Hussein alive for some reason and it is not to help the Bush Administration. The Moslem Allah is the same God of the Christian and the Jew. Saadam Hussein's God is the same God as Osama bin Laden. I think the one protecting Osama bin Laden is the United States. I think it is God protecting Saadam Hussein because Saadam Hussein knows the truth. The United States will not even allow him to talk to his lawyers because the United States is so afraid the world will find out the truth; otherwise there would be no reason to keep Saadam Hussein from his attorney, like is being and has been done.

Osama bin Laden will not be a martyr any more than Saadam Hussein will be a martyr. There is a good possibility tha Saadam Hussein will become a martyr if the United States kills him.

Martha:

Saddam at one stage was considered an 'infidel' by fellow Muslims. Osama has never reached that level of notoriety. Muslim culture is remarkably loyal to the ideals that Osama Bin Laden represents, whereas Saddam has never enjoyed this kind of following.