Peter

PFT - Broncos cut Henry

The book (at least the reports about the book) confirms what a lot of us already knew. The reason the architects wanted to go to war had little or nothing to do with WMD. You may recall that the inspectors were there and were in the process of confirming that there were no WMD. We pulled them out. The war was about achieving the PRE-September 11 goals of the neoconservatives to re-make the Middle East and help certain allies. Although the real goals that the administration had were legitimate, they were certainly not sufficient under the circumstances to justify a decision to go to war (especially without the type of coaltion that George H.W. Bush built for the first Gulf War). Moreover, from a practical perspective, the architects of this war knew that there was no way to sell the war to the American people on this basis or for the cost that we would have to bear. Instead, the administration used 9/11, the deaths of 3,000 Americans, WMD, and Al Qaeda to sell the war. They lead the American people (about 80% at one time) to believe that Saddam and Iraq were involved with 9/11. They spoke of not letting a mushroom cloud over NYC be the smoking gun etc. To further sell the war, Cheney said that we would be greeted as liberators and Wolfowitz testified that the Iraqi oil revenue would pay for the reconstruction. The war was a war of CHOICE not one of necessity. It was a choice that never should have been made for a whole host of reasons including the lack of support from our allies. It distracted us from Afghanistan and Al Qaeda. Moreover, it pissed away all of the goodwill we had around the world after 9/11. As I said earlier, the real reasons for the war were not illegitimate (they just were not sufficient in my mind under the circumstances). The administration should have tried to sell the war on its own merits and also informed the American people of the costs of going to war. If they had done that, the American people could have made a much more informed decision whether to support the war. [i seriously doubt that the Country would have supported the war if the adminstration had leveled with the American people.] Further, if the administration had been straight with the American people regarding the administration's primary reasons for going to war, we would not be in the mess we are in. We either would not be there (because the American people would not have supported it) or the American people nevertheless would have supported the war and W would be subject to the claims that the country was misled. The other problem (as I see it) was the administration did not view time as being on their side. The longer it took to go to war, the more likely it would have been that there would be confirmation that Saddam did not pose any threat to us and support for the war would diminish. [As Colin Powell said in an interview some months before 9/11, Saddam posed no threat to us given the no fly zone etc -- when, oh by the way, we were only spending $5 billion per YEAR on Iraq]. Because of this, the administration compounded its initial mistake of pursuing a war of choice by not having enough troops and not sufficiently preparing for the occupation phase. George W. Bush will go down as one of the worst (if not the worst) presidents in the history of the United States. Further, he did not take advantage of the opportunity he had to accomplish paleo conservative goals that he could have accomplished. He pissed it and everything else away on the war. He also has crippled the Republican party (of which I am a member). I have some doubts about McCain, but I hope that he can rebuild the party and win in November. As an aside, I seriously doubt that W came up with the idea of going to war with Iraq on his own. I believe that this was driven by the neoconservatives like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Perle, Feith, and Wolfowitz who wanted to go to war with Iraq long before 9/11. [Those of you who have not read "A Clean Break: A New Stategy for Securing the Realm" may want to google it.] Perle and Wolfowitz in particular were beating the war drums against Iraq in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 when there was no reason to suspect Iraq and every reason to blame Al Qaeda. W's biggest failing is his lack of curiousity. He failed to ask the tough questions -- like many members of Congress and the media. Just my two cents.

Of course we should. Yet, the Browns are not going to trade him. He is an integral part of their team.

Their motto is "Our customers are our family." Not only is that a pretty good pun (given the history), I suppose that makes me a made man. "Our customers are our family"

Are you referring to W?

Link

There is that.

He is pretty impotent. I will agree with that. Apparently that "jawboning" he promised did not pan out.

FWIW, to put things in context, oil is up about $100 per barrel since W became president.

What happened to "jawboning"? W's Trip to Saudi Arabia The one thing that W supposedly had going for him was his and his family's relationship with SA. Unfortunately, that has not worked out too well the past 8 years. No wonder W does not want to talk to adversaries around the world given that he is unable to convince our friends to do anything for us.

Italian Guy Put in Jail By ICE For Visiting American Girlfriend I previously posted about an Icelandic babe that we locked up and shackled some months ago, but I cannot find the post: Icelandic Woman Locked Up and Shackled It just goes to show you what happens when you put the government in charge of something. I am just glad that we have won the war on terror and the government can concentrate on locking up Italian boyfriends and Scandinavian babes. I know that a lot of you guys could care less about Europeans, but this kind of thing does not help the economy, i.e., tourist dollars. The last time I checked, tourism was way down. I suppose W's master plan was to bring down the dollar to try to lure more foreign tourists.

I have not. My Dad also did not abandon me by spending my childhood in prison. I also did not have to sleep on my uncle's couch in a one bedroom apartment because my parents were not around to help take care of me. For those of us that grew up in white, middle class suburbia, I dare say that it is difficult to imagine what James Hardy had to endure while growing up. In any event, we have no idea what happened the other day. I am not in a position to pass judgment at this time.

Post of the day.

I am with you on the refs. I felt my blood pressure rising watching the replay yesterday. I was about as pissed off as I was all those years ago.

I saw it. McCain did fine. He has been on the Daily Show several times and is able to banter with Jon Stewart.

Flutie proved what a clutch, big time playoff performer he was at the end of the first half and at the end of the game.

Oooooooooooo. Great comeback. You are right (at least regarding W's America -- or should I say the Cheney, Addington, Rumsfeld, Feith, Wolfowitz, Hadley, Perle, Gonzalez America). Under W, America is about locking people up based on giving 25k rewards to people who have vendettas, depriving them of basic due process rights, using the same "enhanced interrogation techniques" as the gestapo ("Verschärfte Vernehmung") and the Spanish Inquisition, rendering prisoners to countries where we know they will be tortured, etc. I am a conservative and a Republican. I am absolutely embarrassed by what W, Cheney, et al have done to this country and to the Republican party. In the words of Rumsfeld, I will leave it to you "dead enders" to defend what will go down as one of the worst (if not the worst) administrations in the history of the United States.

If he has to explain that to you . . . .

Very well said. A lot of people seem to forget (or do not realize) that freedom, individual rights etc. are "conservative" principles. That is one of the reasons (among others) why I do not consider King George to be a conservative.

Valid point to a certain extent. On the other hand, how many of these guys have we let go after holding them for several years when it became clear that there was no reason to hold them in the first instance? Kristof on Gitmo

The list includes: W Rumsfeld Cheney Wolfowitz Feith Perle Hadley

The guy has overcome a lot in his life based on an article that I read after the draft. He will be an easy guy to root for.

Well said. The civilian "leadership" has been horrible and has been a disservice to our generals as well as all members of our military.

Another example of the cluster f*ck that this administration created from the initial decision to engage in a war of choice that was not necessary while taking our eye off the ball to the mismanagement of the execution of the war and its aftermath. It is no wonder Bush is the most unpopular president in recent American history. He will no doubt go down in history as one of the worst presidents that we have ever had (if not the worst). Certainly, his decisions have had the most catastrophic consequences. As a Republican, I am embarrassed. As a Republican, I feel fortunate that the Democrats are engaged in a circular firing squad. It is depressing how much goodwill this administration squandered as well as the opportunities that it squandered to accomplish traditional paleo conservative goals.

I always liked Le Roi.