Ok... I've been laying low for a while because of what I perceived as a complete lack of civil discourse and tolerance for people who have a different opinion. I am a Republican, and I really resent being labelled racist, homo-whatever, hate the poor, intolerant, etc... I am none of those things. Since THIS discussion seems to be one in which we can freely express our opinions without getting flamed, I'll toss in my .02 on a few topics. KC listed them out, so I'm going to rip him off

1. Preemption. We change the doctrine of the last x amount of years by hitting first.

BigWill listed MOST of the prior attacks on us that have been going on since 1970. Exactly how many times does one need to be attacked before retaliation is not considered "preemption". They took shots at us for years, and we did nothing. If we had attacked back in 1960, then THAT would have been preemption.

2. Unilateralism. We don't wait for the proper process to happen. The UN was headed our way, it just would have taken a little while. Yeah, yeah, how many more would die, but still. Procedures should be followed, or we should pull out of the UN, and cause even more people to hate us.

The UN was NEVER going to "head our way". 2 points here. #1, the UN supported Gulf War. Saddam signed a cease fire agreement that provided for unlimited inspections. If he really had none, he would have let us look anywhere and everywhere that we wanted. Nothing to hide, right? He didn't. When hostilities resumed after the violation of the cease fire agreement, the original (UN approved) Gulf War started up again, correct? Sounds legal enough to me.

Second, individuals in the French, German, and Russian governments were receiving kickbacks from Saddam and the oil for food program. As long as Saddam had a lock on Iraq, those people were guaranteed a supply of free money. They were NEVER going to vote to remove him. He could have killed 3 million more people on camera, and they would not have voted to remove him. The UN is corrupt, period. We should not trust the destiny of the American people to them.

3. We were lied to. We are still lied to. The revisionism is amazing. Now our primary motivation for going into Iraq was to remove Saddam. A year ago, our primary motivation was because of the "WMD."

We were not lied to. Every intelligence agency in the world knows Saddam had, used, and was still developing other WMDs. They were there. Sooner or later, they will turn up. He had plenty of time to hide, or move the ones he had before we rolled in. Maybe the UN called him, and told him that they couldn't stall the US any longer? Another point. Given the desire of about 50% of the American population to be politically correct at all times, the President can't simply come on TV, say "Saddam violated the cease fire agreement, leaders all over the world are being bought off, and oh by the way, we need to go hunt down and kill these radical Islamists wherever and whenever we can.". The liberal press would have a field day with that. I listen to what Bush said prior to the war. If you heard anything other than what I just typed in quotes when you listened to him, then you just missed his point. The story was the same, beginning to end. It's just hard to put that in a sentence that meets the PC standard. He said the same thing, with the same intention repeatedly. It was clear as a bell, just as I typed it, and it never changed.

4. WMD. Since when does everything need to be an acronym?!

I agree. WTF?

5. A lack of a plan for the peace. Sure we won the war. Uh, now what? Let's make it up!

Uh, lets apply this to the fire department. "Uh... we're sorry sir, we can't come out there and put that fire out at your house because the architect hasn't called us with the new floor plans yet." Basic rules of emergencies. Handle the situation at hand first, then deal with the aftermath. Basic rules of business. Avoid "analysis paralysis". Do not spend so much time analyzing that the opportunity you were examining passes you by. Bush's plan for peace was simple. Take out the dictator. Stop shooting. Leave.

6. The War on Terror. Uh, what happened to Osama? Good lord, we're pulling people out of Afghanistan to go to Iraq!

Did you notice that we stompped all over Afghanistan, and not one peep from the radical Islamic community. We went into Iraq, and they're coming out of the woodwork. Maybe we struck a nerve? Based on their reaction alone, I'd say we're getting warmer. We've plucked a nerve to be sure. We MUST be doing something right.

7. North Korea. They've got ICBMs and Nukes. They've said so. We know it. They're irrational as hell. You know why we're not touching them? 'Cause under the Bush doctrine, they should be little piles of radioactive ash.

It worked with the Soviet Union. Now our President does lunch with their President. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.



M- M60s/VP150/QS8s/SVS PC-Ultra/HK630 Sit down. Shut up. Listen.