Food for thought...

[sTony]

There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq in January.

In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January. That's just one American city, about as deadly as the entire war-torn country of Iraq.

Some claim that President Bush shouldn't have started this war, think about this:

FDR led us into World War II.

Germany never attacked us ; Japan did.
From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500 per year.

Truman finished that war and started one in Korea

North Korea never attacked us.
From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,334 per year.

John F. Kennedy started the Vietnam conflict in 1962.
Vietnam never attacked us.

Johnson turned Vietnam into a quagmire.
From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost, an average of 5,800 per year.

Clinton went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent.
Bosnia never attacked us .
He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing.

Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.

In the years since terrorists attacked us , President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya , Iran , and, North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people.

The Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking.

But Wait....

It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51-day operation..

We've been looking for evidence for chemical weapons in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton to find the Rose Law Firm billing records.

It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick.

It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida!!!

Our Commander-In-Chief is doing a GREAT JOB ! The Military morale is high!

The biased media hopes we are too ignorant to realize the facts.

But wait.... There's more!

JOHN GLENN (on the Senate floor - January 26, 2004)

Some people still don't understand why military personnel do what they do for a living. This exchange between Senators John Glenn and Senator Howard Metzenbaum is worth reading. Not only is it a pretty impressive impromptu speech, but it's also a good example of one man's explanation of why men and women in the armed services do what they do for a living.

Senator Metzenbaum (speaking to Senator Glenn):
'How can you run for Senate when you've never held a real job?'

Senator Glenn (D-Ohio):
'I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps. I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on 12 different occasions. I was in the space program. It wasn't my
checkbook, Howard; it was my life on the line. It was not a nine-to-five job, where I took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank.'

'I ask you to go with me... as I went the other day... to a veteran's hospital and look those men, with their mangled bodies, in the eye, and tell THEM they didn't hold a job!

You go with me to the Space Program at NASA and go, as I have gone, to the widows and Orphans of Ed White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee... and you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their DADS didn't hold a job.

You go with me on Memorial Day and you stand in Arlington National Cemetery, where I have more friends buried than I'd like to remember, and you watch those waving flags.

You stand there, and you think about this nation, and you tell ME that those people didn't have a job?

What about you? For those who don't remember During W.W.II, Howard Metzenbaum was an attorney representing the Communist Party in the USA .

Now he's a Senator!

[Rob T]

For perspective on FDR "leading" the US into WWII:
The actual events went as follows: Germany attacked our ally, Great Britain. Great Britain was getting supplies and support from us to defend themselves via British and US ships. Germany started sinking ships, most British, some US, and we decided to start shooting back per a directive from FDR that the House and Senate supported. Japan attacked us Dec. 7. We declared war on Japan Dec. 8 (unanimous senate vote for, only one house vote against (a pacifist, not a republican), and Germany then (because Japan was an ally of theirs) declared war on the US on Dec 11 - four days later.
A couple of questions to ponder: Was going to war with Germany and Japan was a bad call?
Does the fact that far fewer lives have been lost in Iraq (to date anyway) somehow make this war ok versus the other wars?

Regarding Vietnam - Kennedy made a bad call, and realized it. Shortly before being assassinated he had confided to his brother Bobby that he wanted to get the US out of there, and notified the Pentagon that deescalation was going to be put on the table.
He seemed to be learning from his mistakes.

But the bigger point is this:

Party affiliation is irrelevant - a bad decision is a bad decision, and it takes real courage to acknowledge that and change course.

Regarding the war on terrorism: Let's get 'em by going after the right areas and folks - redeploy troops to the real place they are needed to fight terrorism - Afghanistan and the Pakistan border regions. (Maybe also be less polite to the number one financial source for the terrorists as well - Saudi Arabia, whose ruling family has had long and strong ties with Bush Sr.).

Food for thought.

Rob Tressler

[Rob T]

For perspective on FDR "leading" the US into WWII:
The actual events went as follows: Germany attacked our ally, Great Britain. Great Britain was getting supplies and support from us to defend themselves via British and US ships. Germany started sinking ships, most British, some US, and we decided to start shooting back per a directive from FDR that the House and Senate supported. Japan attacked us Dec. 7. We declared war on Japan Dec. 8 (unanimous senate vote for, only one house vote against (a pacifist, not a republican), and Germany then (because Japan was an ally of theirs) declared war on the US on Dec 11 - four days later.
A couple of questions to ponder: Was going to war with Germany and Japan was a bad call?
Does the fact that far fewer lives have been lost in Iraq (to date anyway) somehow make this war ok versus the other wars?

Regarding Vietnam - Kennedy made a bad call, and realized it. Shortly before being assassinated he had confided to his brother Bobby that he wanted to get the US out of there, and notified the Pentagon that deescalation was going to be put on the table.
He seemed to be learning from his mistakes.

But the bigger point is this:

Party affiliation is irrelevant - a bad decision is a bad decision, and it takes real courage to acknowledge that and change course.

Regarding the war on terrorism: Let's get 'em by going after the right areas and folks - redeploy troops to the real place they are needed to fight terrorism - Afghanistan and the Pakistan border regions. (Maybe also be less polite to the number one financial source for the terrorists as well - Saudi Arabia, whose ruling family has had long and strong ties with Bush Sr.).

Food for thought.

Rob Tressler

[getalife]

sTony,

That may have been the most intelligent and well written post I have seen. I agree 100%

[Dewayne]

I have to agree with Rob. We have spent almost $500,000,000,000 so far in Iraq and we still have not addressed the countries where the terrorists are coming from to fight our troups in Iraq. Best case is we get a stable elected goverment in Iraq and the people vote for pro-US candidates. We are ulimately placing the future of whether Iraq will be a state that supports terrorism in the hands of the Iraqi people. We COULD if successful take away one possible training ground for terrorists. Of course if we had done this 12 years ago it would not have prevented 9/11.

Now what about Yemen, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, or any other of a dozen countries. 9/11 was not a huge attack although it was costly in US lives. It was 20 terrorists based in the US and trained to fly planes here, yip we aided the terrorists. No matter what happens in Iraq we will always be vulnerable to terrorism. It will not magically end with a victory in Iraq. In the mean time we are blowing the federal budget deficit through the roof. While I am no fan of taxes we cannot continue to cut taxes and spend more.

Our cost so far for this war is over $1,600 per man/woman,child, and even illegal alien in the USA. Lets wake up and start making some personal sacrifices and quit dumping the cost to our childeren. Any ideas of how we should pay this dept and the ongoing costs of the war?

There is no better way to rob someone blind than to hide the theft in something they are not comfortable questioning.

[RichThiel]

Dewayne,

If William Buffet and Bill Gates and Trump would pool there money together, it would pay for the War.

Rich Thiel