MEAT,Aug 22 2004, 08:14 PM Wrote:

klaptonic,Aug 22 2004, 05:41 AM Wrote:ouch

I like your “quotes” and I do see where your coming from....

Quote:BAGHDAD Iraq. — During a recent mortar attack on the main U.S. compound in Baghdad, which formerly was Saddam's grand palace, an optimistic chief of logistics explained how the expanding flow of $18.4 billion of U.S. aid would produce long-term change. He also thinks things had already improved in the 12 months he had been there.

In an earlier interview, Ambassador John Negroponte said correctly that, without security, the other facets of economic, sociopolitical change could not occur. Accordingly, these points were further amplified by his comments that Iraq's future must be viewed not in the short term but "a longer view" and that there is important traction. He saw Iraq filled with promise.

The Defense Department puts out daily reports on some 2,000 successful projects based on information accumulated from civilian and military sources on the ground. However, most of the American media have diligently avoided reporting on this plethora of good news, negatively flavoring the worldwide impression of our efforts. Furthermore, historical perspectives like comparisons of American efforts under Democratic administrations in Japan, Germany and Korea have also been avoided. Therefore, our altruism is downplayed while the combat mission supporting the Iraqi government is highlighted.

Day after day, these media reports on a narrow band of dissident combatants that include outside agitators color perceptions while affecting both our military and civilian morale. Meanwhile, a mixed group of committed coalition people are working hard and risking their lives to bring Iraq from ruin to future stability and prosperity.

In the U.S. Military Hospital in Baghdad, as Medivac helicopters fly in from Najaf, the staff works feverishly trying to save a critically wounded Iraqi soldier — who lies next to an American soldier from the 1st Cavalry. This while another group of medics attend to a accidentally burned child, as her traditionally garbed mother fingers prayer beads beside her bed.

In another part of the city, coalition elements work on clean water and electricity generation, and how to rejuvenate cash-making oil production amidst turmoil. They are addressing some basic infrastructure issues for the first time since before the Iran-Iraq war. As one British consultant said: "The faster we help the Iraqis, the faster they get a better life, the faster people quit fighting." For America, that means the faster we get out of there.

A first lieutenant in the 10th Mountain Division, caked in dust, said, "Our helping Iraqis makes sense." When told he was a long way from the West Point parade grounds, he said: "This was what I was meant to do, help people." This statement, as we pass 1,000 American military killed in action, illustrates the deep seriousness, selflessness and intent of our cause.

So, while there are fainthearted, non-Trumansque types running for the door to abandon a John Kennedy-like noble effort, remember that the patient and earnest helping of Iraq will prove correct even if it takes 10 years. In the short term, it may look ugly but President Bush's political heroism will only become evident after the current election, as success in Iraq starts kicking in. Admittedly, as a side benefit, this may give America access to much needed oil to keep our economy going. This, while radical environmentalists slam the door on development of oil in our own Alaskan Arctic Wildlife Reserve.

Even amid our mistakes and blunders, Iraqis are becoming better off, receptive and appreciative. It can be hoped this will later be reflected in the Arab world, relieving pressure on Israel.

Last, we must make atonement, in the collective, cosmic sense, to our forefathers, our American military dead and those almost 3 million innocents killed after we abandoned Indochina in 1975. America must not repeat that history. This atonement comes by helping Iraqis and as many others as we can, people yearning to be free. Otherwise, we will be condemned to a spiral of expanding warfare unprecedented in human history, as "evidoers" take charge and flourish.

Quote:Politics are a dirty game.

Quote:...are being funded by the same people who fund Bush's campaign.

Quote:Behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are veteran corporate media consultant and Texas Republican activist Merrie Spaeth, who is listed as the group’s media contact; eternal Kerry antagonist and Dallas attorney John E. O’Neill, law partner of Spaeth’s late husband, Tex Lezar; and retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffman, a cigar-chomping former Vietnam commander once described as “the classic body-count guy” who “wanted hooches destroyed and people killed.”

Quote:Last winter, Kerry himself was accused by his rival Howard Dean of using a front group to run a hard-hitting TV ad in early primary states New Hampshire and South Carolina, featuring a grainy image of Osama bin Laden.

“There are those who wake up every morning determined to destroy Western civilization. Americans want a president who can face the dangers ahead, but Howard Dean has no military or foreign policy experience,” the ad’s narrator said as the ominous image of bin Laden grew larger on the screen.

A 527 group called Americans for Jobs, Healthcare and Progressive Values paid for the ad.   Among the group’s financial backers were the International Association of Machinists, a union that had endorsed Rep. Dick Gephardt for the Democratic nomination, and former New Jersey Sen. Bob Torricelli, who raised funds for Kerry and donated $2,000 to Kerry’s campaign.   “What we now see is that John Kerry is part of the corrupt political culture in Washington," Dean said in February after finding out about the funding of the ad. About SBVT -- Disinfopedia

Quote:Overall, more than 250 Swift boat veterans are on the record questioning Kerry's fitness to serve as Commander-in-Chief. That list includes his entire chain of command -- every single officer Kerry served under in Vietnam. The Kerry game plan is to ignore all this and pretend that the 13 veterans his campaign jets around the country and puts up in 5-star hotels really represent the truth about his short, controversial combat tour.

Occhidiangela,Aug 22 2004, 05:14 AM Wrote:EDIT:  Oops, I forgot to answer your other question.  "The need to know bad news."  Ever make an omlette?  You break some eggs, you add some milk, baking powder, and then you beat the bejesus out of it with a fork or an egg beater.  In that state it is a bit of a mess.  You then put it on a warm griddle or pan, and add a few things that will improve its flavor and appeal.  Hmmm, avocados, finely chopped onions, minced tomatoes, cheese, a bit of crumbled bacon . . .  yummy.  It still looks sorta  funny.  You then spend some time and effort and eventually, you roll it over, lightly brown it, and then slide it onto a plate.  The "Iraq omlette" seems to me to be somewhere just past beat the dickens out of the eggs and the add some yummies stages, though the griddle in Iraq is plenty hot for the cooking.

Occhidiangela,Aug 23 2004, 06:31 AM Wrote:Take this with a grain of salt.  WT tends to right of center.

kandrathe,Aug 23 2004, 03:30 PM Wrote:Moveon.org compares Bush to hitler, and Fox news to Pravda.

Quote:The right-wing apparatus now has us on their radar – including Matt Drudge, Fox News, the Republican National Committee, and the Bush Campaign.  They have launched a series of attacks to attempt to discredit and silence us.  But they have failed.

One prong of this attack is the persistent attempt to characterize one of the 1500 entries in the BushIn30Seconds contest – the now infamous “Hitler ad” – as an ad somehow supported and aired by MoveOn.  Of course, this is not true, and in fact the ad itself only appeared to the public at large on the RNC and Bush campaign web sites.  While their consistent harping on this lie has gotten press, in the end it’s backfired.

kandrathe,Aug 28 2004, 11:32 PM Wrote:This tit for tat smear crap has to stop.

Quote:Moveon.org compares Bush to hitler