As bush's failed middle east Peace effort bears more ugly fruit he gave Saudi's $20 Billion in military aid so feels just in blaming them for the problem he caused!As you know, Bush was just in the middle east pushing his facade of a middle east Peace initiative. His intrusion into the middle east to attack Iran guaranteed that their would be no peace only war and it is just beginning. The latest on his middle east breakdown then his futile desperate threat to Saudi Arabia to save the mess he has created of our economy!
First An explosion ripped through a U.S. Embassy vehicle Tuesday as it traveled along a coastal highway north of Beirut, killing four Lebanese civilian bystanders, according to American and Lebanese officials. Four Lebanese civilians were killed in the blast, which happened around 4:45 p.m. (9:45 a.m. ET), according to McCormack and Lebanese Cabinet minister Marwan Hamadeh. An American, an Iraqi and three Lebanese were among those wounded in the blast, said a Western diplomatic source. The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation said 20 were injured, including several who were treated at the scene for minor wounds. The attack happened during "a major political crisis" in Lebanon, which has been without a president for nearly eight weeks amid a bitter political feud.
"This explosion just exacerbates a difficult situation," spokesman Chatah told CNN. Tuesday's blast appears to be the latest in a series of attacks against pro-Western, anti-Syrian targets in the Lebanese capital. Most recently, an explosion in Beirut's Christian suburb of Baabda killed Brig. Gen. Francois Al-Hajj, the head of operations for the Lebanese army, and his bodyguard on December 12 Al-Hajj was believed to be a top candidate to take over as army commander in the event current commander Gen. Michel Suleiman was elected to replace Emile Lahoud as president. Lebanon has been in the midst of a political crisis as pro- and anti-Syrian lawmakers in parliament are locked in a battle to elect a new president. Lebanon just one of Bush's guaranteed failures
This is entirely Bush's fault but is only one piece of Bush's created middle east Breakdown. Bush's supposed successful Democratization program set the stage for this crisis. Also at the same time Bush is instigating war with Iran Palestinians are mourning their dead and Mahmoud Abbas is calling the 19 or so killed a massacre by Israel. At least 16 Palestinians, mostly members of the military wing of Hamas, were killed in Gaza on Tuesday by Israeli army fire, according to hospital officials there, and a volunteer from Ecuador working a kibbutz field on the Israeli side of the border fence was killed by sniper fire from Gaza, Israeli military officials and witnesses said.
On Tuesday afternoon, a rocket fired from Gaza landed on a road in southern Ashkelon, an Israeli coastal city of 120,000, causing no casualties. The escalation in violence came a day after Israeli negotiators and Palestinian counterparts representing the West Bank leadership started peace talks, and after the prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, seemed to rule out the immediate prospect of a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas. Mr. Olmert told the Parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee on Monday that “it is highly advisable not to become entangled in operations and cost that are not in proportion to the pressures that we are facing.”
The military wing of Hamas, known as the Qassam Brigades, issued a statement on Tuesday claiming credit for killing the volunteer. Among the dead in Gaza was a son of Mahmoud Zahar, a senior leader of Hamas. The son, Husam Zahar, 21, was a Qassam member, and was killed in an Israeli air strike on the car in which he was traveling, according to Taher Nunu, a spokesman for the Hamas government in Gaza. The Israeli army moved about a mile inside Gaza before dawn on Tuesday in what a military spokesman called “a routine operation to distance terrorists from the fence,” as well as the threat of rocket and mortar shell fire aimed at the forces and Israeli civilian communities along the border. As well as the ground operation, the Army spokesman said, the air force carried out three separate strikes against a mortar shell launching squad; a car carrying armed militants; and two armed Palestinians spotted on the ground.
Bush is getting the credit for giving Israel the green light for the attack. that is going to go a long way in gaining peace in the middle east I'm sure! While Bush's success in the middle east is exploding around him the idiot today was threatening the Saudi's with being responsible if the mess he has created if our economy tanks. President Bush used his visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to push for increased oil production to help the U.S. economy by forcing fuel costs down.
"Oil prices are very high, which is tough on our economy," Bush said on the second day of his visit to the Islamic kingdom -- one of the key members of the OPEC oil cartel. "I would hope, as OPEC considers different production levels, that they understand that if ... one of their biggest consumers' economy suffers, it will mean less purchases, less gas and oil sold," Bush said. Saudi King Abdullah huddled with Bush on Monday night, and the two leaders were to meet again Tuesday. "We've got a lot of things to talk about, but I want to assure you it's in the spirit of friendship," Bush said. The president also was expected to attend a "Roundtable with Saudi Entrepreneurs" hosted at the U.S. Embassy. Saudi Arabia is the fifth of a six-nation tour of Middle East nations that Bush began last week aimed at garnering support for Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and shoring up regional security against terrorism.
Top Iranian officials have slammed Bush's Mideast tour -- one of them saying the American leader was attempting to stir up "Iranophobia," a state-run Iranian news agency reported. Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency on Monday cited the comments of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Ala'eddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. Bush, in a speech Sunday in Abu Dhabi, labeled Iran as the "world's leading sponsor of terror" and asked allies to join the United States in confronting Iran "before it's too late." Bush threatens Saudi Arabia for his mess
You know Iran is right and Bush's instigation will only serve to further the cause for middle east war. The guy just can't be this stupid! But threatening Saudi Arabia saying they would be responsible if we can't make purchases if they do not sell is more oil is another low even for him. He refuses to see what he has done to our economy. He refuses to force oil companies here to build new Refineries! Why should they unless forced. They are the bottle neck keeping prices artificially high not the Saudi's. Bush has got to stop his smug ignorance and stupidity. He created all this trouble here, in the middle east, and around the world, and he wants to blame it on everyone else and charge them with fixing the problems he has created!
James Joiner
Gardner Ma
http://www.anaveragepatriot.com/
____________________
put into perspective:This is too true to be very funny The next time you hear a politician use the Word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about what it means!
This is too true to be very funny The next time you hear a politician use the Word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about Whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, But one advertising agency did a good job of Putting that figure into some perspective in One of its releases.
A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were Living in the Stone Age.
D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.
. Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number, what does it mean?
A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you Each gets $516,528.
B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787.
C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family Gets $2,066,012.Washington, D.C... HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken??
*Tax his land,Tax his wage,Tax his bed in which he lays.Tax his tractor,Tax his mule,Teach him taxes are the rule.Tax his cow,Tax his goat, Tax his pants,Tax his coat.Tax his ties,Tax his shirts,Tax his work,Tax his dirt.Tax his tobacco,Tax his drink,Tax him if he tries to think.Tax his booze,Tax his beers, If he cries,Tax his tears.Tax his bills,Tax his gas,Tax his notes,Tax his cash.Tax him good and let him knowThat after taxes, he has no dough.If he hollers,Tax him more, Tax him until he's good and sore.Tax his coffin,Tax his grave,Tax the sod in which he lays.
Put these words upon his tomb,'Taxes drove me to my doom!'And when he's gone,We won't relax,We'll still be after the inheritance TAX!!
Accounts Receivable Tax, Building Permit Tax, CDL License Tax, Cigarette Tax, Corporate Income Tax, Dog License Tax, Federal Income Tax, Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) Fishing License Tax, Food License Tax. Fuel Permit Tax, Gasoline Tax, Hunting License Tax, Inheritance Tax, Inventory Tax, IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
,Liquor Tax,
Luxury Tax,
Marriage License Tax,
Medicare Tax,
Property Tax,
Real Estate Tax,
Service charge taxes,
Social Security Tax,
Road Usage Tax (Truckers),
Sales Taxes,
Recreational Vehicle Tax,
School Tax,
State Income Tax,
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),
Telephone Federal Excise Tax,
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fe e Tax,Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax,
Telephone State and Local Tax,
Telephone Usage Charge Tax,
Utility Tax,
Vehicle License Registration Tax,
Vehicle Sales Tax,
Watercraft Registration Tax,
Well Permit Tax,
Workers Compensation Tax.
**STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, And our nation was the most prosperous in the world.We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.What happened? Can you spell 'politicians!' And I still have to 'press 1' for English.
This is too true to be very funny The next time you hear a politician use the Word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about Whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, But one advertising agency did a good job of Putting that figure into some perspective in One of its releases.
A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were Living in the Stone Age.
D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.
. Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number, what does it mean?
A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you Each gets $516,528.
B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787.
C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family Gets $2,066,012.Washington, D.C... HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken??
*Tax his land,Tax his wage,Tax his bed in which he lays.Tax his tractor,Tax his mule,Teach him taxes are the rule.Tax his cow,Tax his goat, Tax his pants,Tax his coat.Tax his ties,Tax his shirts,Tax his work,Tax his dirt.Tax his tobacco,Tax his drink,Tax him if he tries to think.Tax his booze,Tax his beers, If he cries,Tax his tears.Tax his bills,Tax his gas,Tax his notes,Tax his cash.Tax him good and let him knowThat after taxes, he has no dough.If he hollers,Tax him more, Tax him until he's good and sore.Tax his coffin,Tax his grave,Tax the sod in which he lays.
Put these words upon his tomb,'Taxes drove me to my doom!'And when he's gone,We won't relax,We'll still be after the inheritance TAX!!
Accounts Receivable Tax, Building Permit Tax, CDL License Tax, Cigarette Tax, Corporate Income Tax, Dog License Tax, Federal Income Tax, Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) Fishing License Tax, Food License Tax. Fuel Permit Tax, Gasoline Tax, Hunting License Tax, Inheritance Tax, Inventory Tax, IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
,Liquor Tax,
Luxury Tax,
Marriage License Tax,
Medicare Tax,
Property Tax,
Real Estate Tax,
Service charge taxes,
Social Security Tax,
Road Usage Tax (Truckers),
Sales Taxes,
Recreational Vehicle Tax,
School Tax,
State Income Tax,
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),
Telephone Federal Excise Tax,
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fe e Tax,Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax,
Telephone State and Local Tax,
Telephone Usage Charge Tax,
Utility Tax,
Vehicle License Registration Tax,
Vehicle Sales Tax,
Watercraft Registration Tax,
Well Permit Tax,
Workers Compensation Tax.
**STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, And our nation was the most prosperous in the world.We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.What happened? Can you spell 'politicians!' And I still have to 'press 1' for English.
15 comments:
I have to run out now. I will be back. I just wanted to leave you with this sobering little tidbit. What do you think?
little tidbit, eh? the thing most folks don't realize is- the flow of oil is just fine. it's the refinery end of which the middle east has no control- that is causing us issues. the refineries are big oil. they won't build new ones because the shift will be away from oil- so they make billions of dollars in profits in the meantime. you can always leave it to bushco to leave as much misery and destruction in their wake as possible. the more chaos they can create in a destabilized region- the easier to step in to clean things up. or so the plan goes. they don't have the actual delivery down pat.
Betmo
I know, it's sickening. It stinks that he routinely ignores the obvious and what we all know and then friggen blatantly lies so he can follow this misagenda! Did I say tidbit?
Those filthy dirty hands on the oil spigots only get bloodier with each day. There's a word for that kind of greed. Evil. Just like the hands of their beady-eyed emperor.
I agree Dave!
You know, it might be for most a natural course as they realize they have the power in their hans. Those Saudi's to me are vile and the epitomy of evil.
It pisses me off that Bush kisses up to them. Did you hear that idiot Bush telling them that it makes sense that if you pay a lot for oil you are not buying things.
What the hell do they care! I hate seeing his friggen face. He is an idiot. He said it makes sense that if we are not doing well they wouldn't either. What the hell is that? Sell it to the Chinese!
This is happening in America Jim:
When Washington Governor Chris Gregoire was explaining on Monday her rationale behind her new security checkpoint program, she pointed out that we already have security stops and checks at courthouses and airports. In many of those places, we do; and the proposed expansion of governmental stops and checks of citizens who are minding their own business and violating no law is one of the exact reasons we disapprove of them so much. Where will the quest for “safety” and “security” lead us next? How much more thoroughly will the Fourth Amendment be eviscerated in the name of keeping people safe?
Not that intoxicated driving, the intended target here, is a small thing; it is a substantial killer. But the heightened penalties and law enforcement watches for drunken drivers, and improved public awareness, have had positive effect: There’s been a general decline in DUI over the last couple of decades. Much of what’s been done has worked, and a variety of non-intrusive options not much use so far should be. Technology, from ignition locks to portable breathalyzers and beyond, not to mention improved efforts against alcoholism, can help further. When she said that “The fact of the matter is it’s a different day than it was 20 years ago,” she’s right: The problem is less extreme than it was then, and we have much better options now than we did then.
The freedom to travel from place to place without being stopped by government authorities - absent some specific reason why you should be - is core and central to freedom in America. Every one of these generalized stops and checkpoints of people undermines that, a point courts generally have upheld over the years, including courts in Washington when this kind of idea was proposed in the last decade.
We think this is a lousy idea even if it works as intended, but we doubt that it will. Cops spending their time stopping and checking every driver (or every random fourth, or whatever it is) who are doing nothing wrong, are cops not checking on particularized violations (of DUI or whatever) somewhere else.
Beyond that, the procedure will make these stops pretty easy for drunks to avoid. From Gregoire’s office: “The proposed legislation would require law enforcement to apply for a warrant to conduct an administrative sobriety checkpoint in their county. The application would have stringent guidelines including information like geographic locations and checkpoint specifics.” This would be public: The proposed legislation says specifically that the public will be notified prior to the checkpoints being set up. You can imagine that among the drinking crowd, word will spread. The rest of us, less motivated to track these things, may be stopped disproportionately.
And for DUI exclusively? You can see this coming: Agencies will want to piggyback other agendas on top of this one, just as the Patriot Act, supposedly solely an anti-terrorist measure, has been used much more for other purposes. Have no doubt, if this approach takes affect, it will happen. Where it will end, where its practical limits will be, remain unclear.
What this most specifically would accomplish would get Americans ever more accustomed another stop and search routine of them by their government. And that is how the fourth amendment, and the sense of what it is to live in a free country, gets gradually whittled away.
Lets impeach Pelosi Jim:
The Truth About the Wars Will Guarantee The Votes
By Richard W. Behan
When people who honestly believe a lie
learn the truth, they will either cease believing,
or they will cease being honest.
--anonymous
Speaker Pelosi, President Bush could have achieved his goal of “regime change” in Iraq quickly and without the violence of war. Saddam Hussein offered, weeks before his country was invaded, to leave Iraq and go into exile. President Bush withheld this offer from public view—and refused it. Nor did the President need to invade Afghanistan to apprehend Osama bin Laden. On five different occasions, George Bush refused a standing offer from the Taliban to surrender Osama bin Laden—three times before 9/11 and twice thereafter, again without public disclosure.
No, the military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan are not directed against terrorism. They are territorial in nature. Mr. Bush intended from his first days in office to invade the two countries: as early as late January, 2001, his Administration was developing the decisions and beginning the preparations for both military incursions. 9/11 was in the distant future, so the conflicts cannot be exercises in counter-terrorism, as the Bush Administration frequently and dishonestly insists. They are premeditated wars of unprovoked conquest and occupation.
Madam Speaker, if you know this, and if you continue refusing impeachment, then you are a criminal accomplice in violating the trust of the American people—and in violating both U.S. and international law.
If you do not know this truth about the wars, Madam Speaker, you must learn its details and embrace it, and then you must seek with dispatch and justice to impeach George Bush and Richard Cheney.
You claim you don’t have the votes. But to say that is to canvass the jury before the trial begins, before the evidence is presented and scrutinized. When the hideous truth of these wars is finally exposed—as it will be in the impeachment process—you will have the vote of every honest and patriotic member of the House of Representatives, Democrat and Republican alike.
Why isn’t the truth already widely known? There are two reasons. The Bush Administration is infamous for its pathological lying and secrecy: they have done everything in their power to distort or suppress the truth. And the mainstream press has become an engine of entertaining, not informing the American people: it is indifferent to the truth.
But the truth is always there, and it can be discovered in foreign news outlets, in the domestic alternate press, in book-length treatises, and in the passion for truth and unconstrained inquiry displayed by people posting to the Internet. These are the sources for the exposition to follow.
Madam Speaker, if you will not impeach, then you must refute this history, if you can.
THE WARS ARE NOT ABOUT TERRORISM
The Bush Administration’s Curious Behavior
Hours after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President Bush told the world the United States would take the fight directly to the terrorists and the states that harbored them. Thus the Bush Administration’s “War on Terror” was born.
Less than a month later, on October 7, Mr. Bush launched a savage aerial bombardment of Afghanistan. He had the support of a shocked American citizenry and a sympathetic world, all of whom expected justice to be delivered soon to the terrorist Osama bin Laden and the harboring state embodied in the Taliban.
The incursion into Afghanistan was sold as the first action in the “War on Terror.” It was a brilliantly executed charade.
Flashback to October 12, 2000, a year earlier. The USS Cole, an American Navy destroyer in the Yemeni port of Aden, has suffered heavy damage from a terrorist attack, perpetrated by Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda.
Three weeks later officials of the Clinton Administration met with theTaliban in the Sheraton Hotel in Hamburg, Germany. To avoid a violent retaliation of furious bombing, the Taliban offered the unconditional surrender of Osama bin Laden.
Before the details of the transfer were completed, however, a Supreme Court ruling gave George W. Bush the White House, and the message was passed: the actual handover of bin Laden will be deferred until the Bush Administration is sworn in.
Once in office, the new Administration asked the Taliban to delay the handover of Osama bin Laden at least until February. As winter faded into spring, and spring into summer, the Administration demurred twice more.
Then Osama bin Laden struck again, on September 11, 2001.
On September 15, Taliban officials were flown in U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft to the Pakistani city of Quetta, where the deal was sweetened. The standing offer of surrendering Osama bin Laden was renewed, but now the Taliban would also oversee the closure of bin Laden’s bases and training camps.
This time the White House simply rejected the offer out of hand. It did so again when the offer was repeated several weeks later, and days after that President Bush ordered the violence to begin.
The invasion of Afghanistan was something vastly different than a quest to apprehend a terrorist..
Sources for this section:
1. “Bush Rejects Taliban Offer to Hand bin Laden Over,” Guardian Unlimited (UK), October 14, 2001.
2. “Bush Rejects Taliban Offer to Surrender bin Laden,” Andrew Buncombe, The Independent (UK), October 15, 2001.
3. “Dreamers and Idiots: Britain and the US did everything to avoid a peaceful solution in Iraq and Afghanistan,” George Monbiot, The Guardian (UK), November 11, 2003.
4. “How Bush Was Offered bin Laden and Blew It,” Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, CounterPunch, November 1, 2004.
5. “Did Bush try to stop bin Laden in his first eight months in office?” MSNBC Countdown, September 28, 2006.
The War in Afghanistan
The commitment to invade Afghanistan was made long before 9/11.
The Bush Administration wanted to secure for American energy companies—notably the Enron and Unocal Corporations—the strategic pipeline route across Afghanistan to the Caspian Basin. But the Taliban had signed a contract in 1996 with the Bridas Corporation of Argentina, preempting the route.
Scarcely settled in Washington in early 2001, the Bush Administration immediately pressed the Taliban to rescind the Bridas contract, and undertook planning for military intervention should negotiations fail. Administration officials and the Taliban met for talks three times throughout the spring and summer, in Washington D.C., Berlin, and Islamabad—but to no avail.
At the last session, in August, 2001 the Administration threatened a “carpet of bombs” if the Taliban did not comply. The Taliban would not. Soon thereafter—still weeks before September 11—President Bush notified Pakistan and India he would attack Afghanistan “before the end of October.”
Then 9/11. Then two more refusals of Osama bin Laden’s head. Then, on October 7, the Bush Administration looses the carpet of bombs.
Since then Afghanistan has been supplied with a puppet government, the Bridas contract is history, and the country is dotted today with permanent U.S. military bases in close proximity to the pipeline route. It was a war of conquest and occupation.
Counter-terrorism is scarcely visible. Osama bin Laden remains at large, the yield of “terrorists” to date consists of several hundred iconic and badly treated wretches in Guantanamo Bay, and terrorism in the Middle East has intensified, not diminished.
Sources for this section:
1. “Players on a rigged grand chessboard: Bridas, Unocal, and the Afghanistan pipeline,” Larry Chin, Online Journal, March, 2002.
2. Crude Politics: How Bush's Oil Cronies Hijacked the War on Terrorism, Paul Sperry, WND Books, 2003.
3. Alexander’s Gas and Oil Connections, February 23, 2003.
4. “A Timeline of Oil and Violence: Afghanistan”, see the website,
http://www.ringnebula.com/Oil/Timeline.htm
5. “Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat,” New York Times, September 24, 2006.
6. “From Afghanistan to Iraq: Connecting the Dots with Oil,” Richard W. Behan, AlterNet, February 5, 2007.
THE WARS ARE ABOUT AMERICAN HEGEMONY—
AND OIL
The War in Iraq
The template for the invasion of Iraq was crafted in 1992, in Richard Cheney’s Defense Department during the first Bush Administration. It was a document advocating a U.S. posture of singular global dominance in economic, diplomatic, and military power. The authors were Paul Wolfowitz, Zalmay Khalilzad, and Lewis “Scooter” Libby. Their document spoke explicitly about the need to secure “...access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil,” and Iraq was in the crosshairs.
In 1996, the Project for the New American Century was created, touting the term “global hegemony,” and seeking to maintain America’s status as the world’s only superpower, using preemptive war if necessary. Among the founders of the PNAC were the earlier advocates of world dominion: Richard Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Zalmay Khalilzad, and Lewis “Scooter” Libby. Donald Rumsfeld, and Jeb Bush were founding members as well.
In a 1998 letter to President Clinton the PNAC people once again sought the invasion of Iraq. Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Zalmay Khalilzad, and 15 others signed the letter.
In September of 2000 the Project for the New American Century once more advocated the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Then four months later, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Zalmay Khalilzad, Lewis “Scooter” Libby—and 24 others from the PNAC—moved into top positions in the Bush Administration.
The commitment to invade Iraq was made at the first meeting of President Bush’s National Security Council in January of 2001.
The rationale was ideological, apparently: by means of a preemptive war, to take an initial step toward global hegemony. A more tangible objective would soon emerge.
Sources for this section:
1. “Empire Builders: Neoconservatives and their blueprint for U.S. Power,” Christian Science Monitor , a series appearing June, 2005.
2. The website of the Project for the New American Century. See
http://www.newamericancentury.org/
3. The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill, by Ron Suskind, Simon and Schuster, 2004.
4. “From Afghanistan to Iraq: Connecting the Dots with Oil,” Richard W. Behan, AlterNet, February 5, 2007.
Regime Change
In December of 2002, 3 months before his country was invaded, Saddam Hussein invited the Bush Administration to send U.S. troops into Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction, and he said he could prove Iraq was not involved in 9/11. His entreaty was turned aside by President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Two months later Hussein promised unlimited access to the FBI to search for WMD’s, support for the US position on Israel and Palestine, and even some limited rights to Iraq’s oil. All this was rejected. Finally, in desperation Saddam Hussein offered personally to depart Iraq for exile in Egypt or Saudi Arabia. Once again he was refused by the White House, and soon thereafter cruise missiles pounded Baghdad and U.S. tanks rolled across the border from Kuwait.
Regime change was not the objective: that could have been achieved bloodlessly with Saddam Hussein’s exile. Combating terrorism couldn’t possibly have been the objective, either: when President Bush invaded Iraq, there was no sign of al Qaeda in the country at all. There had to be some other purpose.
Well Jim, the tax limerick was pretty funny.....
Sorry I haven't been around to comment, I have been writing and writing and I've little time to read - but tonight I take a break!
I just can't believe the audacity of our Idiot-In-Chief....oh wait, yes I can!
There is so much going on now - I don't know if its because we simply have access to more information, or because I'm paying closer attention - possibly both with the fact that the US is speeding towards some kind of world police state, dictators in training - it's too much sometimes.
My brain feels like it's going to explode every time I read the news, or browse blogs. Ack!
larry
The 4th Ammendment like the rest of tyhem nean nothing anymore and will be totally eviscerated in order to satisy someone's personal often hidden aganda. I was just listening to an effort in MA. to make texting while driving illegal. Nothing will work!
Only the innocent will be inconvenienced and harrased as usual. If you want to do something you will find a way to beat the law period. Meanwhile the rest of us might as well be in Stalag 13.
larry
You know we have A to Z gone over this too a thousand times. He allowed 9/11 to happen so he could steal all the power he needed to control us and used terrorism as the excuse to attack Afghanistan and then Iraq to get into the middle east to get his world war going so he can umplement his new world order or so he thinks.
Terrorism is merely the excuse to do that and as we have discussed again numerous times, we are the enemy! We don't need these so called experts to tell us what we already know but are powerless to stop. They are part of the problem!
Anok
Sadly all we can do is laugh and we have to keep that! We watch all this idiocy knowing the truth and listen to it denied and it is sickening but we will continue to fight it! No apologies necessary Anok!
Great post...and my comment did not make it through ....so I am repeating myself..sorry...
the scary thing is HOW joyful Bush looks on this trip dancing and feasting and looking sooooo cozy...really really disturbing and what kind of messege does this send to other countries in the region- he has no cultural skills be to dancing about over there- or making frigging arms deals....omg...
thank god Jon Stewart is back.,..I need to laugh about this...I could not take it otherwise,,,,,
Have Hope...The NEXT prez would never do this kind of crap....
namaste friend..I hope this comment goes through..
Does anyone on earth take Bush seriously, anymore?!
Especially after his dance with the king!
Man ... these Arabs have a weird sense of aesthetics! Well, one cannot expect finess from Saudis, and their friends :)
enigma
Namaste my friend it got through. I am disgusted! I was listening to Bush today say how much fun he had and how successful the trip was. It was a failure and it cost us $50 Billion. He kissed the saudi Beheader. They set a record this year beheading 137 in their successful Democracy. Bush got nothing and the middle east continues to blow. With his forever war this is success! Keep smiling Hon.
naj
Nope! He is the only one that takes himself seriously. Sadly though he is seriously affecting the entire world. I was pretty peeved watching him kiss the Sheikh whose successful Democracy beheaded 137 last year.
Did you hear the fool telling them we can't buy things if oil prices are too high. Why the heck do they care? He is an idiot. He spent $50 Billion of our dollars and got nothing.
I was going to do an update today but the Government hiding cloned meat on our shelves had to be discussed. Who are they going to do in first I ask?
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