Jerry Okamura
5/20/2008 5:26:00 PM
"Smirnoff" <Unlised@unlisted.com> wrote in message
news:cbkYj.4555$lU5.486@newsread1.mlpsca01.us.to.verio.net...
>
>
> "Jerry Okamura" <okamuraj005@hawaii.rr.com> wrote in
> message news:4831c516$0$31736$4c368faf@roadrunner.com
>> "Smirnoff" <Unlised@unlisted.com> wrote in message
>> news:_5%Xj.4498$lU5.4256@newsread1.mlpsca01.us.to.verio.net...
>>>
>>>
>>> "Jerry Okamura" <okamuraj005@hawaii.rr.com> wrote in
>>> message news:48307898$0$30479$4c368faf@roadrunner.com
>>>> "Smirnoff" <Unlised@unlisted.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:lEFXj.4359$lU5.406@newsread1.mlpsca01.us.to.verio.net...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> "Jerry Okamura" <okamuraj005@hawaii.rr.com> wrote in
>>>>> message news:482f1291$0$5133$4c368faf@roadrunner.com
>>>>>> <retrogrouch@comcast.net> wrote in message
>>>>>> news:qdmr249n0g1c058e31e4tfg2vhuf0n6ktt@4ax.com...
>>>>>>> On Fri, 16 May 2008 08:10:29 -1000, "Jerry Okamura"
>>>>>>> <okamuraj005@hawaii.rr.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>><retrogrouch@comcast.net> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>news:jcar24drel75rqf29junc42uth3nmi3qbc@4ax.com...
>>>>>>>>> On Fri, 16 May 2008 07:30:35 -0400, * US * wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>On Thu, 15 May 2008 07:58:05 -1000, "Jerry Okamura"
>>>>>>>>>><okamuraj005@hawaii.rr.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>I supported the war in Iraq for two basic reason,
>>>>>>>>>>>[sic]
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>Stupidity and cowardice.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>... I did believe he was a threat....
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>It was/is cowardly of you to believe that lie.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> In Cairo, on February 24 2001, Powell said: "He
>>>>>>>>> (Saddam Hussein) has not developed any significant
>>>>>>>>> capability with respect to weapons of mass
>>>>>>>>> destruction. He is unable to project conventional
>>>>>>>>> power against his neighbours."
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>That is obviously a true statement. That does not
>>>>>>>>mean he was not a threat.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> This is the very opposite of what Bush and Blair
>>>>>>>>> said in public.
>>>>>>>>> Powell even boasted that it was the US policy of
>>>>>>>>> "containment" that had effectively disarmed the
>>>>>>>>> Iraqi dictator - again the very opposite of what
>>>>>>>>> Blair said time and again. On May 15 2001, Powell
>>>>>>>>> went further and said that Saddam Hussein had not
>>>>>>>>> been able to "build his military back up or to
>>>>>>>>> develop weapons of mass destruction" for "the last
>>>>>>>>> 10 years". America, he said, had been successful
>>>>>>>>> in keeping him "in a box".
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Keeping him in a box, does not mean he was not a
>>>>>>>>threat.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> LOL. He had no military to speak of. No access to
>>>>>>> weaponry. He was under massive international boycott
>>>>>>> and 2/3rds of his country was subject to overflight
>>>>>>> patrols by the US and UK.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You do not invade a country with the manpower or
>>>>>> firepower that we did utilize in Iraq, "if" you knew
>>>>>> it would be a cakewalk.
>>>>>
>>>>> Being stupid is no excuse. Shock and awe is not a
>>>>> policy that works.
>>>>
>>>> You have got to be kidding me. Results indicate
>>>> otherwise.
>>>
>>> You must be referring to the Americans that have been
>>> shocked.
>>
>> Only because the occupation has been a whole lot harder
>> than was anticipated. The war will go down in history as
>> one of the most successful ever conducted by any country
>> to date.
>
> I don't see it that way given the failure in getting the whole thing
> underway. When in history have so many right wing generals resigned or
> taken early retirement so they could speak out against this war for oil.
> How many have admitted it was just that and had nothing to do with WMD?
> How many wars morphed in their description of the meaning of the word
> Victory? How stupid does this "cake walk" look now? The claims of so few
> deaths of US troops, the advice by so many that more troops were needed.
> The premature cries of "mission accomplished". The president wanting to be
> known as the "war president" that had to leave office in shame with the
> lowest rating of any other? Even if there is any flavor of victory it will
> be bitter until the end, whenever that may be. No time table, no real
> plans on how to win other than "stay the course".
> History will not be good to the republican party. That is one thing for
> sure.
>
>
Military people in the United States DO NOT make the deicison to go to war.
That is the responsiblity of the President of the United States, with the
approval (either directly or by neglect) of the Senate of the United States,
and indirectly by the House of Represenatives. You cannot conduct a war, or
for that matter continue an occupation without money to fund that effort.
As for what we should do now, the answer to that question is, is success in
Iraq important or is it not important. If it is important then we should do
what is needed to achieve success. If success in not important, then every
day we spend in Iraq is one day too many. So, what is your answer? Is
success important or is it not important, and why? And while we are at it,
the two candidates who have said we should start withdrawing from Iraq, that
being Clinton and Obama, have not answered the basic question I am asking.
They have not said that success is not important, nor have they said that
success is not possible.
>