acoustic

Saddam is always waved before the world as an excuse for the killing.

Saddam was a wheeler-dealer all his political life. Any ruler of his
kind would have preferred to stay in power given a chance and he
wasn't despite his willingness in his Arab way to deal.

But as early as November 1, 2002, this headline was in a local paper:

Estados Unidos: ``Se agota el tiempo''

That's the famous ``time is running out'' line on Iraq from the Bush
White House. From Paul O'Neill, Bush's former treasury secretary to
the anti-terrorism czar Richard Clarke, people who were in the know
and who had too much of the Bush adminsitration's BS came out to
confirm the suspicion we have had all along: the rap on Saddam to the
extent of an unprovoked aggressive war waged on a defenseless nation
was a trumped-up charge and a well-planned military operation no
matter what Saddam would do. Washington wanted to seize control over
the Middle East and that was the beginning, the middle, and the end of
the cause for the war.

The real issue is Bush and Blair and their cynical supporters and
instigators knew the immense cost in human lives with the weapons of a
modern war, like those prosecuted in the two wars against Iraq in less
than two decades and the war against Afghanistan. If only one
persion, such as Saddam in the case of the Iraq war, is the only
reason, and not a whole people, such as the Iraqis, then in no
cir***stance can anyone ever justify a modern war. A modern society
cannot afford a modern war. A modern war kills too many people and
destroys the planet (oil and all).

McKinley is absolute right: The only truth, the only invariance in a
modern war is the massive death and destruction it leaves behind.

Thanks, Mr. McKinley for your insightful comments.

And Achie, please cease to repeat that unfounded assertion, ok?
lo yeeOn ========

acoustic

Then put the terrorists, Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice, Wolfowitz in
the prison so that they won't be able to start another war again.

lo yeeOn
========

Of course, even if you don't care about the Americans or the Iraqis
killed for having done nothing wrong, you are seeing the economy
coming home to roost. The lying on top is costly and the people on
the bottom are paying the price.

First, the top mis-directed its effort and squandered its opportunity
to fix a problem which warrants more of its attention. Because of its
obssesion with ousting Saddam, the Bush administration had no time to
worry about the pressing economic problem. It simply gave a band-aid
solution; made you feel good for a few months with some extra money to
spend and shop. Meanwhile, the problem was just being forgotten, not
fixed. Borrowing from another netizen:

The tax cut for the rich was supposed to spur the economy. It
didn't, partially because the wealthy invested their tax savings
outside the U.S. economy.

[If the Bush admin didn't realize this was what would happen, the
people in charge should be fired for incompetence anyway. loyeeOn]

So now Bush is telling the middle & lower economic classes to spend
money, at a time when the average family credit card debt is over
$8000.

They have to cut back on essentials, just to keep gas in their car
to go to work.

Second, the war and the ensuing instability it engendered in the
Middle East further upset the availability of crude oil worldwide,
thus adding to our economic woe.

Third, the military spending and financial aid to prop up the puppet
government in Iraq has created record deficit. Hence, despite the
poor prospect of recovery, the Fed is raising interest rate again,
perhaps to stem more credit-card borrowing.

When you see how well the Swedish stores IKEA are doing in your area,
maybe you'll start realizing that the Swedes are noticing that we,
Americans, aren't that well-off afterall. Many Americans are crammed
into tight quarters and need low-price solutions to their living
problems.

Thanks first to Bill Clinton for squandering the good time and now
more thanks to G W Bush for further squandering the meager little we
got left to finance an immoral war which has now come home to roost. (lo yeeOn)