US Election 2004

[TwilightSymphony]

No money for books? The Library is your friend and the TRUE House of God, in my opinion. :Spin:

Anyway, I may be mistaken, but I think Kerry served two seperate tours in Vietnam, possibly about a year apart. I think the first Purple Heart medal was awarded to him on the first tour. The Silver Star was issued to him on his second tour because of his actions of going back to rescue his fellow fallen comrade(s) in the swift boat. I don't remember what he got his Bronze Star for, but I think he did get sent home early for the wounds which earned him the other Purple Hearts.

As a former Navy combat medic, the corpsman will usually write on the tag that is attached to all the soldiers wounded that they recommend that person for the Purple Heart for anything requiring more than what basic first aid will take care of in the field.

As for the speed in which he achieved his medals, I received 3 medals and ribbons in 1991 alone.

As to the recent attacks by the GOP against Kerry, I think it's an indication that they're getting desperate because they might be scared that they're going to lose this next election. I can't think of any other reason why the Republican Party would be financially contributing to Ralph Nader's campaign to get him on the presidential election ballots in several states. Personally, I feel another change in the presidential requirements is necessary. I don't think anyone should be the commander-in-chief of the US Armed Forces unless they've actually served active duty in one of the 5 branches.

Most people swear by foreign news sources for news and information. Hell, we were getting better coverage and footage of the first Gulf War in Japan on the Japanese-owned stations on Okinawa than what we would be seeing on CNN - then, the leading cable news source.

 

[Utuk Xul]

I'm something of a die-hard liberal, even though I can't vote.

Makes perfect sense.

 

[Pessimism]

library . . . i owe a lot of money at that beautiful place
hopefuly though my job search will come to an end!

 

[Profanity]

Any leader would be better than Bush.

 

[metu]

I don't know about news, but for a good mix of analyses...

http://www.foreignpolicy.com
http://www.eurasianet.org
http://www.heritage.org
http://www.aei.org

 

[Barth Vader]

I don't know about news, but for a good mix of analyses...

http://www.foreignpolicy.com
http://www.eurasianet.org
http://www.heritage.org
http://www.aei.org

A great quote for all you multi-nationalists out there:

"Be careful what you wish for. The alternative to unipolarity would not be multipolarity at all. It would be apolarity—a global vacuum of power. And far more dangerous forces than rival great powers would benefit from such a not-so-new world disorder."

-Barth, the bull-headed Pro-American asshole

 

[metu]

What does that have to do with my post, Barth?

Thanks for the correction on the voting laws, Twighlight. We can debate the state of our troops there if you really want. I never said that they were well prepared, though. I said that they're well entrenched. I very much appreciate you're point of view on military operations and realities and I love the fact that you mentioned the United Fruit Company.

As for service history in a commander in chief, I can't help but agree. I'm so sick of these high society bitches coming to power who look at our service men and women like pieces on a MONOPOLY board. More than the concern about being a casualty to a bad decision, not that that's not a solid point, I feel worse for our troops who kill... even a grown man with a gun pointed right at you... and find years later that the only reason they were there in the first place was to open up a few sweatshops.

When we elect Kerry, the fight is not over. We the People need to take this government back from the corporations. We have to set priorities. Priority number one, get rid of Bush.

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Anyway, I came here to post about Iraq.

I disagree that there was no reason to invade Iraq. There was no cooperation between Saddam and al Qaeda. There was and is no proof of weapons of mass destruction. I wholeheartedly agree that the Iraqi government had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

However, a regime change in Iraq was a good idea. Everyone agreed that he was the worst tyrant in the Middle East. A decade of sanctions didn't work to stop his militancy nor his human rights violations. His military power and morale was very limited making it a relatively easy overthrow. None of the surrounding governments approved of him as a ruler including Syria and especially Iran. If the Bush administration had made the case as they should have, Iran, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia would all be giving their full support to help us secure the borders.

My main disagreement with the way it was handled is the rush. Bin Laden declared war on the US over a decade ago. It took years of planning to carry out the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It's absurd to suggest that Iraq was planning and could pull off an immediate attack on the US when the security was at the highest that it has been in sixty years. That's not how Saddam works and that's not how terrorism works.

Even if the UN Security Council wouldn't have passed another resolution, they should have gone back and made a better case. All they presented was a bunch of arial photographs of trucks. I could have made a better case with a vile of shit. The whole world was watching and saw clearly that we had no proof of anything.

The case that they presented had nothing to do with their motives and the whole world knew it. The case they made was that he had weapons of mass destruction, had an active nuclear program and that they ignored the UN mandates. This is the same argument that President Bush made to the American people.

This was never the reason. The reason is that this administration thinks that they can change the Middle East by toppling a universally disliked dictator and install a democratic government with which all their neighbors could openly trade and which they would all grow to appreciate. The ideal of capitalism is that when people profit from trade, they won't be as tempted to go to war.

Individual freedom, particularly the freedom to worship as you see fit, is the cornerstone of Islam. We need to make allies of muslims by appealing to this idea. We can make a solid base of allied muslims if we can, with their help, make Iraq work as a free, long-lasting democratic society. The Iraqi people can become our most valuable allies in the world.

I supported regime change in Iraq by external force. I think that Southwest Asia needs some serious help with pulling itself up from the dark ages and I think that a free, democratic Iraq can be monumental in helping to speed this process. I think that if we, together with the Iraqi people, can pull this off, Mesopotamia can, once again, be a beacon of free thought and progressive ideas as it had been for thousands of years.

They should have gone to the Arab League and other regional organizations and made the real case to them. Iran and Jordan should have and could have been our primary partners in border security. I don't mean only the governments, but also the people. The whole thing was blown with this lack of patience and the chest-pounding attitude. President Bush should have done a grass roots diplomatic circuit in the Middle East and Persia. Everyone hated Saddam and would have given us their support. There was plenty of time.

Honestly, what was the rush? The smoking gun theory made for good sound bytes, but it had no basis in reality. The administration must have known that our troops didn't have enough armored humvees. They must have realized that border security was impossible without monumental help from neighbors. The weapons inspectors were in there and, even if they weren't given the complete run of the place, they were looking for anything suspicious. Why in the everloving world of fuck were we in such a hurry with such a tremendous task?!?!

The only angle that I see for it being such a rush was that this administration didn't want to share the reconstruction contracts. I forget who said it, but the business of America is business. Not letting France or Germany enter the bidding war for the contracts was ridiculous and it was a neon arrow pointed at the problem.

Regardless, terrorism works best where the rule of law is weak. That's why dictatorships are so tempting. We've learned, I hope, that supporting dictatorships is a short term solution. The rule of law in Iraq needs to be strong and long-lasting or the country will be the breeding ground for terrorists that it never has been. The Bush administration have done their part in taking down the regime. They cannot, however, overcome their failures in diplomacy.

Bush won the war, but he can not win the peace.

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My ideal leader... someone who has seen enemy fire in a war which could not be won due to bad dimplomacy... someone with over two decades of experience in foreign policy.