Say Anything Blog

9/11 happened, and we realized that our policy of tolerating tyranny in the middle east had resulted in fostering a threat from extremist Islam that was capable of hurting us even within our own borders.  We realized that we couldn’t tolerate oppression in the middle east any more because allowing it to exist unopposed has dire consequences for us.

We invaded Iraq because after 13 years, Saddam had failed to comply with the terms of his Treaty agreement--namely to comply with UN weapons inspections and to dismantle his WMD programs.  Further, we were still under the mode of using the UN through sanctions.

Since then, we have discovered how corrupt the UN is with their handling of Oil for Food.  We discovered how corrupt member nations were in smuggling Iraqi oil and selling arms to Iraq.  We watched as Saddam thumbed his nose at the world for over a decade and did absolutely nothing that he agreed to in his original treaty.  And contrary to the situation now, the UN Security Counsel did not vote to authorize force against Saddam like they did in 2002.  There was still debate on the course of action unlike the complete lack of dissent in 2003 when the US House and Sentate overwhelmingly agreed that the use of force was necessary.  At the time, this was simply an interview with the former Secretary of Defense that was completely out of government as opposed to the second in command of the entire nation and a man charged with effectively protecting the US against attack.

But then again, if asked about invading Afghanistan in 1994 or 1996 when Afghanistan was reeling from the Russian power vacuum created by their withdrawl, Cheney would have said the same thing.  No strategic value and not worth the loss of lives.

CNN’s action bothered me and I think Rob (with Justin B’s addendum) puts it into perspective very nicely.

I think that more Americans need to be aware of Cheney’s 1% Doctrine so that they understand better why we had to act, despite what “1994” Cheney said.

Even Kerry said he still would have gone into Iraq as late as the 2004 election. If that isn’t pandering… Now we have Hilarious Clinton, still a staunch war supporter, but without having any clue as to why.

Cheney had real information at his disposal to make his decisions and assessments. Democrats simply chant “me too!” in order to save their seats. I am no fan of Lieberman in this way as he was and is for the war, but “disagreed with the way it was fought” when Ned Lamont opposed him. Come ON, Joe.

Again, great encapsulation, Rob. This is one I am going to copy and paste and send out to some leftie friends. The truth can change their minds.

Are you seriously trying to make case that the middle east is NOT worse off than before? How about almost 4000 more Americans dead on Iraqi soil? Lots more maimed and wounded. Tens of thousands of Iraqis dead from collateral damage, probably multiple times that wounded. Dead kids. Dead children. Dead 5 year old girls and their mothers who happen to be in the same house as the #2 bad guy in Iraq. Did I mention the lucky ones, the MILLIONS of refugees who have left the country?
And for what?
Osama was not even in Iraq. There were no WMDs. And there are a lot MORE people who hate America, many times more. This is supposed to be better.
Am I missing something?

Denis, fewer Iraqi civilians are dying today in Iraq than were being murdered under Saddam Hussein’s regime.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Rob, please
(since things are going well in Iraq they need something to attack the Bush administration with):

Do you expect anyone to actually believe that?

Put bluntly, Cheney changed his mind because he wants to keep American interests both at home and abroad safe.
And now it is safe for that new headquarters in Dubai for his favorite corporation. Mission accomplished.

“We have a dollar that’s adjusting and I am for a strong dollar.....
Our dollar doesn’t buy as many barrels of oil as it used to and so therefore it’s more expensive for the American people”..... Bush 3/12/08

Do you expect anyone to actually believe that?

Well yes, actually.  The military situation in Iraq has improved so much that the Democrats have stopped talking about it and have since moved the goal posts to the political side of things, lambasting the Iraqi government for not getting much done.

And maybe that’s deserved, but the point of the surge was to clear away some of the violence so that the political process could operate.  We’re obviously clearing away the violence, so now’s the time for the Iraqi government to step up.

Criticism of the Iraqi government for not stepping up is a little premature at this point.  Of course, Reid and the rest declared the surge a failure before it was even fully deployed, so I’m not surprised.

And now it is safe for that new headquarters in Dubai for his favorite corporation. Mission accomplished.

Dubai?  You do know that’s in the UAE and not Iraq, right?  Do you own a map?  And that the UAE is an ally of ours?  One that is peaceful and prosperous?

Mark, don’t you think you should actually know things before you open your mouth and talk about them?

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Really....it’s in UAE?
Oh that’s right, that’s where a bunch of them flew out of before they flew them planes into our buildings.
Hey did the gov of UAE open up their banking info to our investigators yet so that we may be able to track the funding of those frequent flyer’s?
Ahhh who cares....they got the tallest building and Dick’s headquarters now, their our pals.

“We have a dollar that’s adjusting and I am for a strong dollar.....
Our dollar doesn’t buy as many barrels of oil as it used to and so therefore it’s more expensive for the American people”..... Bush 3/12/08