http://www.antiwar.com/sperry/?articleid=2689
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well, as long as we're going to reach for extreme positions ...
Its got to be getting preety hard to be a Republican today! So many lies have come out of the Bush White House!
As a proud, card carrying member of the Repupblican Party, I can tell you that the funniest thing I read about the antiwar.com article was that everything they cited as being terrible and horrible, I think was the truth and happen to subscribe to. I find great humor in that! The fact that they were condemning Rush by saying that what we did to Iraqi prisoners was no worse than what college studends do in hazing rituals is absolutely true! How can you condemn a statement like that? It's the truth! Menwhile, while the rest of the world is demanding public appologies from the U.S. because a woman soldier laughed at a naked Iraqi MURDERER, nobody, such as "antiwar.com" condemned the fact that there are American civilians being beheaded slowly with dull knives in front of cameras as if it were equally justified.
It's a moot point, it is still wrong, it is still violates the Geneva Convention and it is illegal under the UCMJ.Quote:
The fact that they were condemning Rush by saying that what we did to Iraqi prisoners was no worse than what college studends do in hazing rituals is absolutely true!
Beyond that, it hurts the effort in Iraq. I'm sure the grunts in the line of fire don't appreciate the little "hazing" prank by the REMF's.
Am I surprised that an organization of isolationists (their self description not a slam) opposes a foreign policy? No
Click on the About button amd learn whose opinion you are quoting.
Actually, this is another "factoid" promoted by liberals and espoused by liberal media which just has one minor problem - IT'S NOT TRUE ! If these prisoners were captured as enemy combatants (i.e. regular army type POW's) then yes they would be covered by the Geneva Convention. However, this does not apply to spies, terrorists, etc. where the customary treatment in past wars has been a firing squad ! Oh, and just for the record, the majority of the prisoners in the "special section" where the pictures were taken were not even Iraqi's ! They were in fact Saudis, Syrians, Iranians, Chechyns, and fanatics from other islamic fundamentalist countries who entered Iraq with the express purpose of spreading fanaticism - another fact the media conveniently ignores.Quote:
It's a moot point, it is still wrong, it is still violates the Geneva Convention and it is illegal under the UCMJ.
My personal guess is that the MP's were put up to these "photo sessions" by MI/CIA with the intention of blackmailing some of these prisoners to cough up valuable information regarding who sent them to Iraq, where they received terrorist training, etc. in an effort to discover more about the international islamic terrorist organization. IMHO if the info these fanatics could provide will help prevent another 9/11 attack in the USA, I'd volunteer to help extract that info !
At any rate, because of the cease fire deals, we have now provided these fanatics with safe havens from which to operate inside Iraq. This is going to cost a lot of American lives in the long run, as well as undermining the future of Iraq when these fanatics continue to pose a threat to moderate Iraqi's after the June 30th transfer of power.
I'm no 'dittohead', but my brain does seem to function most of the time. To be honest, I have an extremely hard time absorbing the fact that some Americans can look at the same situation of islamic terrorism and come to some really bizarre conclusions. However, I'm not the only one ...
First off nothing about Iraq has anything to do with terrorism! In fact the Iraq goverment under the Bath Party kept Islamic fundimentalist from becoming an issue in Iraq. Now we are seeing a rise in radical Islamic fundimentalism in Iraq. The US actions in Iraq has also caused more moderate muslim people to express anti US thoughts. The "First Fool" (President Bush) has done more for the Islamis Fundimentalist movement, than Bin Ladin could ever have done on his own!
That's an understatement if I ever heard one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Melonie link=board=1;threadid=9650;start=msg115627#msg1156 27 date=1085916965
But much as I respect your intelligence and opinion, I would have to disagree with your idea that "...the MP's were put up to these "photo sessions" by MI/CIA with the intention of blackmailing some of these prisoners to cough up valuable information...". The point of blackmail is defeated if the prisoner is wearing a hood, as we have seen in some of these pictures.
The CIA has proven itself fully capable of this sort of covert nasty business before, though--not always with negative effect, as far as US interests go. It is a dangerous game to play, however, and if the truth comes out, it can prove to be very harmful to our image and our interests.
Personally, I have always felt that Bush, senior--formerly head of the CIA--was heavily involved in the Iran/Contra affair, in which our much vaunted refusal to "negotiate with terrorists" was shown to be a crock of s**t.
Iraq was certainly a f**ked up place before we invaded, but I feel we have done more to foment anti-US terrorist activity by handling it the way we have thus far, than if we had followed a more circumspect approach.
Rush Limbaugh has always been a demagogue. I was amazed to see, in a client's office (he was a huge proponent of Rush), one of the most absurd images I have evr come across. It was the cover of a Rush fanzine, with a clumsily executed painting of Rush as the Statue of Liberty--complete with GREEK GODDESS ATTIRE, and with the devout, upturned faces of women and minorities floating in the air around him. This was published with his approval.
Suzy
sadaam was paying the families of suicide bombers! Don't you consider suicide bombers who go into crowded areas in Israel and explode to be terrorists? I do.
Don't you think it's possible that we haven't seen many of the pictures ? There were also news reports of released prisoners which stated that they were so embarrassed by the publicity of the pictures that they would have to leave Iraq or commit suicide in order to preserve their honor - reports which liberal media immediately latched onto !Quote:
The point of blackmail is defeated if the prisoner is wearing a hood, as we have seen in some of these pictures.
On the subject of Rush, I totally agree that Rush has really gone over the top. However, if former VP Al Gore and a large group of liberal democrats continue to spend their efforts attacking Rush instead of Bush, IMHO the country is better off for it. Also, from the" Donovan MacNab" comment to the "Skull & Bones initiation" comment to the "more hoods at Jesse Helms' birthday party" comment, you just KNOW that there are 1,000 conservative politicians and 10 million conservative Americans out there thinking exactly the same sort of things, but who don't dare risk violating PC to say it ! If nothing else, I have to give Rush credit for having the "balls" to force a look at all of these subjects from a different angle than the one chosen by mainstream media.
But especially on Memorial Day, I don't want to allow all of these minor melodramas to distract attention from the real point here. Al Queda is a very determined group of fanatics, with roots in many islamic countries, who have already killed something like 5,000 US citizens and soldiers through acts of terrorism and barbarism - some right out of the middle ages. If these fanatics are not stopped in the islamic countries, they will be right back here in OUR country. Brave US, UK and other coalition soldiers are fighting and dying to try and deal a knockout blow to these fanatics, yet at the same time they are now being forced to fight with "one hand tied behind their back".
My father and brother are both over there, both working as civilian contractors for the military. My brother-in-law and sister are also VERY nearby. If you were to find a list of top 100 civlian targets in the middle east I can almost guarantee you would find 1 if not all of them on the list. Despite all of this risk I still have no reservations about their being there, and neither do they.
In my opinion, 90% of the anti-war effort is nothing more than political maneuvering on the part of people who have no other method of getting themselves into power. They make a few good points, but they are completely ignoring the fact that if this issue is not settled, it will become something too large to settle.
I don't know if any of you had family hurt on 9-11, but I can assure you that there aren't many survivors of 9-11 out asking for peace or criticizing our troops for being over there. I was in NYC about a month after the attack and I can tell you that the entire island was in shambles. They did that with less than 100 men. Think what they could do if we allowed them to collect even as small a number as 1000 men operating under one leader.
I hope that you people who are supporting the anti-war effort are willing to stand up and take responsibility for the civilian deaths that will result if these people wins a place of power and we are pulled out of the middle east.
I suggest you do the arithmetic. Take paragrapgh 4's 1-3% and the 6th from the end $1050. 3% of 1050 is a whopping 30 bucks!!! 10 trucks is considerable safer for each driver than 3 trucks.
The same general phenomenon is true on airplanes and busses. Ever see a city bus driving empty? You never know perfectly if it will be needed to go in the opposite direction or somewhere in mid-route. That is why there are schedules.
heheheh I love it when folks post so called "news" stuff. Because there is just as many counter-points out on the net :D hehehehhehe
I'll post later............cause I got the "knife girl" coming over. (rubs hands.) hehehehhe
Audioslave, YOUR article quotes the cost of a 300 mile trip as $1050 and that the cost plus contract gets Haliburton between 1-3% as the plus. 3% of 1050 is $31.50. Halliburton makes a whopping $31.50 for each trip in profit. Those are your articles numbers not mine. I cut you some slack by using the high number. I am sure you would send someone into harms way for $31.50. You would have to do that 31,700 times to make a million bucks. You would have to have 100 people doing that every day for a year to rack up 31,700 empty trips. (Hal's revenue last year was $16.3 BILLION.)Quote:
Originally Posted by audioslave2 link=board=1;threadid=9650;start=msg116822#msg1168 22 date=1086190796
Their income tac expense was a third of their net income, so $10 of that $30 profit went back to Uncle Sam. That is what I call really successful profiteering.