4th May 2003, 12:34 AM
Quote:Bush Sr. SHOULD have finished off Saddam! It would have saved so much trouble in the long run! Tell me, if Senior thought it was wise not to continue, what stake could Junior have that was so great and so pressing that he plots for ten years to accede to the presidency just on the off-chance he could finish the task his father decided NOT to finish? Do you realize just how retarded your scenario sounds?
And yes, look what we have now! We have a world who isn't happy with us. And exactly what consequence is it having on us? Now that so many people around the world are mad at us, what sort of dire consequences have resulted? NOTHING. Terrorism? Nothing yet. And Al-Qaeda started with the WTC attack just two years after Bush Sr. decided NOT to destroy Saddam. They already hated us. So fucking what? They gonna hate us more now? Whoopdy doo.
Really, I know you like to paint us in as bad a light as possible, but there are really no huge repercussions that have resulted or will result from this war that will harm us. The nations that got mad at us have mostly calmed down, because they remember that they need the United States more than the United States needs them. As long as that fact remains, there's really nothing anyone can do about what policies we enact. That's a fringe benefit of being the world's only superpower.
Why did Bush Jr. go in? Because of what I explained in my last post! He listened to, and agreed with, the people who Bush Sr. disagreed with -- the Republican Hawks. It really is that simple.
I remember in a PBS documentary on this they mentioned a 1991 early version of a report that advocated attacking Iraq and deposing Sadaam (written by Wolfowicz). When it was revealed to the public it set off such a firestorm both here and abroad that the group was forced to rewrite it and get rid of any mention of a attack anytime soon... but Bush Jr. obviously dug up the report and changed a few lines for the difference in years, and used it as a war plan. Just brilliant.
Oh, and I just can't understand why you can possibly so insult the international community. Sure, we're more powerful than anyone, but size isn't the only thing that matters... world opinion is a VERY important aspect of world politics these days. You seem to think that people will change their mind and like us because we are more powerful. It just doesn't work that way. Their hatred will grow deeper... and it WILL cause problems. Not just increased terrorism. Also stuff like votes going against us in the UN more often. Nations refusing to cooperate with whatever we want to do. Anti-american governments being voted into office. Et cetera. While you will slight the impact of those things, I won't. I don't understand why conservatives think that the world is irrelevant, but if you open your eyes and look at it its pretty clear that in this day and age world opinion is a vital part of world politics and what happens in the future. And people like you and this administration couldn't care less... and it makes for very scary times.
Quote:There was most definitely official terrorist support coming from Iraq, but that wasn't the reason we went to war with them, their ties to terror had little to do with it. It's pretty obvious that while official terrorist support is sketchy, there was definitely a lot of passive terrorist support going on, that happens all over the Middle East. But as I said, their terror ties were not the reason we fought them just now.
Fine. So what's your reason you think its okay? I'm sure it'll have nothing to do with international law or what is legal, that's for sure.
Quote:If ANWR has very little oil, why fight so hard to deny drilling? There are many places in America that can yield small amounts of oil, why would this one be a special case? As I said, that aside, there's no way waging a 70 billion dollar war (to say nothing of the billions and billions more for reconstruction) could possibly lead to profit from oil sales, not without years and years of uninterrupted and completely exclusive sales to America, and that will certainly not happen. If oil money was so desperately sought, why not just raise domestic prices? Our society depends on the automobile so heavily that there's no way we could do anything about that except pay more.
Uhh... why fight to deny drilling? TO PROTECT THE WILDLIFE!!! I thought you knew that...
Oh, and the reason isn't for oil directly... its for being able to give the oil companies huge rebuilding contracts in Iraq. That's the prize. And a very rich one at that...
Quote:Oh, give me a damn break. Saddam hid his weapons so well that it would take too long for him to find them himself and use them? Do you think before you type?
Those twelve years gave him plenty of time to make secret all his weapons. If he was disarming as you claim, why, oh why, did he kick inspectors out for four years? Why kick them out if you have nothing to hide from them?
I personally think the moment the UN inspectors were ejected was the moment we should have gone to war with Iraq. Would have made a perfect pretext.
No, I don't mean he couldn't find them. I mean that because of the inspections he had to destroy almost all of them and any that are left he could never use because inspectors would find those just like how in the past they found some chemical/biological weapons facilities.
And the sanctions kept him from getting anything new.