--- The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <<http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2004_02_15_digbysblog_archive.html#107723 > 008900464819>> > > First, Confessore quotes James Webb, secretary of the Navy during the > Reagan administration, writing in USA Today: > > "Bush arguably has committed the greatest strategic blunder in modern > memory. To put it bluntly, he attacked the wrong target. While he boasts > of removing Saddam Hussein from power, he did far more than that. He > decapitated the government of a country that was not directly threatening > the United States and, in so doing, bogged down a huge percentage of our > military in a region that never has known peace. Our military is being > forced to trade away its maneuverability in the wider war against > terrorism while being placed on the defensive in a single country that > never will fully accept its presence."
Saddam funded and encouraged terrorism and so was a legitimate target: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2846365.stm http://www.techcentralstation.com/092503F.html > "There is no historical precedent for taking such action when our country > was not being directly threatened. The reckless course that Bush and his > advisers have set will affect the economic and military energy of our > nation for decades. It is only the tactical competence of our military > that, to this point, has protected him from the harsh judgment that he > deserves." > > Confessore goes on to excerpt a portion of James Fallows' truly > frightening account of our "hollow army." > > However, there is even more to it than that. Wes Clark and others made > the argument some time ago that Iraq was a distraction from the real > threat and it has been said by many that the invasion would lead to more > recruitment of terrorists. So removing a source of funding and a base for terrorists increases terrorism, how? > And, there have been other discussions about > the effects of a stretched thin military of reserves and national guard > troops. But, I haven't heard any talk about what an enormous amount of > damage has been done by the conscious exposure of our intelligence > services as paper tigers. > > Regardless of whether they hyped, sexed up or pimped out the intelligence > on Iraq, the fact is that by invading Iraq the way we did and being > proved complete asses now that no WMD have been discovered, one of our > best defenses has been completely destroyed. Saddam had weapons programmes as David Kay wrote in his report http://edition.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/02/kay.report/index.html > It may have always been > nothing but a pretense that we had hi-tech, super duper satellites with > x-ray vision and all-knowing eavesdropping devices that can hear a pin > drop half a world away but it was a very useful pretense. Nobody knew > exactly what we were capable of. Now they do. It appears to everyone on > the planet that our vaunted intelligence services couldn't find water > even if they fell off of a fucking aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. The Islamists never had any respect for the US (Islamists who have a totalitarian political ideology that they claim is based on Islam are of course to be distinguished from Muslims, who are mnerely adhherents of a religion). See http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=middleeast&ID=SP28101 "Even during World War II, American cities did not experience what the cities of Europe did. Because the Americans have lived for decades with a sense of security� they yearned for a sense of fear. So Hollywood made a film in which New York is attacked with an atom bomb; after that, [it produced] a series of films about flying saucers and invaders from outer space. The Americans did not settle for frightening themselves with nuclear wars and star wars; they began to make films about dinosaurs and other extinct creatures invading the streets of American cities� Now, the average American has no need to fear spaceships; all he has to do is lift his head and see a passenger plane in the sky to be deadly afraid." Alan Forrester Setting the World to Rights - http://www.settingtheworldtorights.com/ ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping" your friends today! Download Messenger Now http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/download/index.html _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
