sums it up on Rummy

[kosar]

When Rumsfeld said in a press conference last Friday that Syria and Iran would be held accountable if they interfered in Iraq, Jon Stewart had material for a comedic rant.

"There is nothing like a cantankerous old man who takes a hey-you-kids-get-off-my-lawn approach to foreign policy," he said. "The guy's literally just like a drunk swinging a broken bottle at people. 'Hey, Netherlands, you looking at me?' "

 

[djv]

Oh Chit. LOL He really is a old pissed off guy. Dam Being 61 I hope I don't end up that way. Or I will take my ball and go home.

 

[BobbyBlueChip]

How long do you think that it will take once we're occupying Iraq before Iran does something to piss us off and threatens our soldiers there?

Rumsfield has already stated that"
The US defense secretary was cited as saying in Washington on Thursday that he saw signs of an early overthrow of the Islamic Republic by the Iranian people, or the government collapse.

"I suspect that during my lifetime we're going to see...that the young people and the women and the people who believe in freedom will overthrow that cleric government and it will fall in some way of its own weight," Rumsfeld was quoted as saying during a radio call-in show.

Bush has called them part of the axis of evil and also stated:
"Iran aggressively pursues these weapons [of mass destruction] and exports terror ? while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom."

President Bush expressed solidarity with the students (after the student uprising), saying, "their government should listen to their hopes." In a targeted phrase, the president urged Iran's un-elected leaders to abandon policies that denied Iranians the opportunities and rights of people elsewhere. In singling out un-elected leaders for criticism the President appeared to be differentiating between factions within the Iranian power
structure.

Sound like liberation time to me.

Iran is next on the list. I don't know how long down the road, but we will be going after a regime change there as well. But, this war will need to be sold and our sales team doesn't have a whole lot of confidence or rapport right now. But the danger of Iran will creep in to speeches once the election is over with and then Iran will respond in kind as they will have U.S. forces occupying two of their borders and a nuclear program.

I am for the war with Iraq and at the time the war started, would have liked our soldiers to go into Iran, too. But opening up on Syria and/or Iran will do more for the fundamentalist groups in all Arab countries than just letting them be.

 

[S-Love]

James Woolsey laid it out plain and simply last Thursday in LA:

"the new war is actually against three enemies: the religious rulers of Iran, the "fascists" of Iraq and Syria, and Islamic extremists like al Qaeda"

 

[Nick Douglas]

I saw that quote from Woolsey as well and it scares me, not so much because he said it, but because the Islamic media has been claiming that this reorganization of the Middle East has been Perle's and Wolfowitz' hegemonic plan for years now and it is actually coming to pass.

 

[auspice]

Funny thing about this war, I have little doubt that at least half the reason this war was fought was for "four more years" by the Bush regime. But even though I'm a liberal, I'm not unhappy with the results of the war to date. As a matter of fact, I'm tickled. There's been very few civilain casualties and Saddam was a monster that absolutely needed to be taken care of some how. Initially, I believe most liberals had envisioned a civilian blood bath much like the last military exercise there 12 years ago. I believe that was a major part of the reluctance by many liberals opposed to the war. Everyone was unprepared for the improved technological advances of our military's strike force in targeting.

My biggest area of grief has been the probable 10's of thousands of Iraqi soldiers that literally had a gun held to their backs to fight that were killed by our forces. I know there was no other military solution on our part, but somehow their deaths seem uncommonly unfair and tragic in the overall scheme of things.

Sometimes the outcome of a situation, even though you're completely opposed to the initial solution, ends of being the best thing in hindsight. We can only hope.

 

[AR182]

Auspice,

Eventhough I disagree with your first sentence,I commend you for a good honest post. I wonder if other people who opposed the war agree with your last paragraph.

 

[TheShrimp]

Nick -- right on.

This has been the master plan of Perle and Wolfy for years. They got EXACTLY the right simp in office to be able to convince him to do it, too.

Rummy's been sprinkling these little "Syrias" and "Irans" into his conferences so that when we're marching in a year from now, no one can act like they're surprised.

The conflicts of interest between Perle's business and personal lives and his being chair (now resigned) of the Defense Policy Board are astounding. Pardon me for suggesting this, but shouldn't the resignation of the Chairman of the Defense Policy Board IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR be a huge story?

How that did not make bigger waves is a testament either to 1) the inability of the media and the public to understand more complex ideas than "SHOCK AND AWE" OR 2) another demonstration of the adminstration's control over the media during this whole thing as evidenced by things such as the firing of Geraldo and Arnett after the white house demanded it.

 

[djv]

Auspice the war is no guarantee for Bush 4 moe years. He must make it last longer in some way. His father had approval rating right near 70% in 91 war. It ended. Folks started to look at the economy and other items. All of a sudden they said we are not doing well. We are in need of a change. Bush Sr rateing went down fast. Right now our economy is second worst in 60 years. Unemployment is highest since 1950. Even with 122 thousand reservist called up for the war it cant slow down the uneployment. Health Care Cost going out of site. Last tax cut we got is spent and gone and did little. Bush needs this war to linger a little longer then his Dads. Or he has same problem Dad did. I voted Bush. I voted Clinton. I vote Bush SR. I voted Reagan first 4 years. Not for a second term. I thought he was loosing his mind and he was. It's nice to be Independent.
If I had to vote in next 6 months and all is same as today. I vote for the sisters of the blind if they were running. We have so many things to worry about other then Iraq. Soon Bush will listen to the less Hawkie side of his staff. It may help him win 4 more years.