THE US, THE UN AND THE IRAQIS THEMSELVES, V. 7.0

Please provide some evidence these cuts were actually made. I have not encountered any such evidence.

Obviously your guess was based on your uncanny ability to see remotely into men's souls and divine their motives and intent.

The fact that the information pasted here was based on the voluntary reports of our government and that the serious perpetrators are already facing judicial procedures for these acts - even several in which there are strong arguments to suggest that they acted appropriately in the most difficult and dangerous circumstances, all testify to the existance of both moral and legal qualms over such actions. To suggest that such a situation demonstrates a rationalization permitting us "to do anything at all" is obviously contrary to the facts and defies common sense. You have assembled words and thoughts in an evident attenpt at deception, perhaps self-deception, but deception nonetheless.

Please provide some evidence these cuts were actually made. I have not encountered any such evidence.

For more information, I went to the Veterans Affairs website at www.va.gov/ and clicked FY2006 Budget Proposal


CI, I thought you said ............ aaah! never mind.............

George would you like to answer my point about the Falklands war being legal?

ican, You need to ask the authoris of those articles; not me. I go by what's available in the media; it's up to you to find factual documents that says otherwise. It's not for me to prove a negative, or haven't you learned that lesson yet?

Honestly Icann. Haven't you learned that C.I. refuses to back up anything he says?

An article in today's San Jose Mer in the Editorial pages which supports one of the things I said on this thread. Just to clarify: I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I usually post opinions after I read or hear something - and do not pick them out of thin air. Some people like ican and McG only attack me, but never support their opinions. That is also what is known as hypocritcal.
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"What about others fighting to live? The Terri Schiavo case presents many Americans with difficult, if not agonizing moral choices. But there are other issues involving the right of sick patients to stay alive about which we should all agree. Tens of thousands of Americans are seriously ill but fully conscious and fighting against disability and death. Their challenge is that they are poor, and they depend on federal funds through Medicaid to pay for the medical care essential for their survival. Astonishingly, many of the same members of Congress who have fought to keep Teri Schiavo alive support vicious cuts in Medicaid, thereby pulling the plug on hundreds of desperately ill Americans and sending them to untimely deaths. Why do President Bush and Speak of the House Tom DeLay, R-Texas, forget this when the life belongs to an American living in poverty?" Linda Spangler, San Jose
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To which I reply, amen.

Steve, I don't recall the post - please guide me to it.

I do believe Britain had every right to oppose the Argentine seizure. Argentina, for its part also had historical justification for its claim. This was one of many examples of situations for which international law offers no solutions. Argentia has claimed the Malvinas ever since Britain seized them during the disintegration of the Spanish Empire, and there is a valid historical basis for their claim. Nevertheless Britain also has a claim that is based on more or less the same principles (physical control) that were the basis for the original Spanish claim on which the Argentines based theirs. British rule had been benevolent and there was little doubt the majority of the island's inhabitants wished to stay associated with Britain.

While I don't advocate a war, strictly in terms of recognized international law, both countries were justified in their actions. Argentina planned and executed much of this action foolishly, while the British campaign was rather skillfully executed. Even so, there were a few close moments, and the Argentine Air Force surprised everyone with their boldness and skill (particularly with their French-supplied missiles and aircraft.). (I knew some of the officers on Sheffield.)

One could argue that the British premptory sinking of the Argentine cruiser, Belgrano was a violation of the rules of war, in that Belgrano was clearly outside the declared prohibited zone when the sinking occurred, and that fact was known to both the submarine crew that fired the torpedo, and the military commanders who directed the action. However, the sinking did paralyze the Argentine Navy, preventing them from employing their aircraft carrier, which, owing to the longer range of its aircraft, could have posed a deadly threat to the approaching British invasion task force. (You guys had just foolishly scrapped your last conventional carrier - old Arc Royal - with its long range Bucaneers. I, by the way, have some pilot time in Bucs with 812 squadron, and even a few traps on the Arc Royal.) Nothing is perfect, and I think that overall the British acted appropriately and performed quite well.

Alas, yes I have. But I cannot give up hope that anyone, even CI, will eventually rectify their irresponsible behavior. You might call it a compulsion of mine.

When I read this last post from CI, I was actually stunned that he would justify, much less exhibit, such irresponsible behavior:


These Irratios seem unable to break away from their Irratio Liturgy despite the preponderance of facts and logic that their Irratio Liturgy consists of nothing more than Bunkum Slop. It's sad. It's very sad.

ican, You and McG are missing the BIG issue; you have not presented your own documentation which refutes the claims made by my posts. Wake up and smell the coffee. Attacking me has many names, which I'm sure you have been reminded of many times on a2k. Start with "strawman." I can add more if you wish.

Whether the bills actually passed or not is not the issue, the issue is that Bush wanted to do it in the first place. Duh

In other news:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ?SITE=FLROC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Mar 26, 11:37 AM EST
Official: Iraq gov't may be formed soon
By EDWARD HARRIS

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A car bomb struck a U.S. military patrol Saturday in the Iraqi capital, killing two American soldiers and injuring two others, and a Marine died in action in a restive central province, the military said.

The man expected to become Iraqi's new prime minister said the coalition government could be formed within days.

"God willing, the government could witness its birth in the coming few days," said Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a top member of the Shiite Muslim alliance that won the most parliamentary seats in Iraq's Jan. 30 balloting.

The bloc has said it plans to stand al-Jaafari for the premiership.

Since holding their first session March 16, lawmakers repeatedly have postponed a second meeting because of ongoing negotiations over the makeup of the government.

Al-Jaafari empathized with citizens irritated by protracted negotiations concerning the allotment of Cabinet posts, but he said speed was being sacrificed for a solid agreement with an ethnic Kurdish bloc, expected to help form the incoming governing coalition.

"There are various groups and we're keen that the process of forming the government be quick," he said. "But we're also keen that this birth has all the requirements needed for success."

Al-Jaafari did not specify when the government could be formed.
Other top negotiators have said the assembly could convene again as early as Monday.

The interim deputy prime minister, Barham Saleh, said Friday that negotiators were intensifying efforts to bring in the country's Sunni Arabs, believed to form the core of Iraq's rebellion.

The names of the U.S. troops slain Saturday were not immediately released, and no other details were given on the car bombing.

The military also announced Saturday that a Marine was killed a day earlier in strife-torn Anbar province, a heavily Sunni Arab region west of Baghdad that contains the flashpoint cities of Fallujah and Ramadi.

No further details were given concerning the Marine, assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

As of Friday, at least 1,524 members of the U.S. military had died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Also Saturday, a senior Iraqi defense ministry official said Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces detained 121 suspected insurgents and uncovered a massive weapons cache - including car bombs, mortar rounds and machine guns - during a joint raid at Musayyib, south of Baghdad.

Neither a U.S. military spokesman nor an Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman was able to confirm the operation at Musayyib, 40 miles south of Baghdad.

Some of the suspected guerrillas planned to attack Shiite Muslims expected to head in the coming days to an annual religious celebration in the nearby city of Karbala, the official said on condition of anonymity.
There were no injuries to any U.S. troops or Iraqi security forces, the official said, and no word on any casualties among the suspected insurgents.

Earlier, military officials said they had discovered a 600-foot tunnel leading out of the main prison facility for detainees in Iraq. No one had escaped, Army spokeswoman Maj. Flora Lee said. She did not know when guards discovered the tunnel.

Camp Bucca holds 6,049 detainees, nearly two-thirds of all those in Iraq, Lee said late Friday. The prison, situated near the southern city of Umm Qasr, it is one of three detainee facilities in Iraq.

A bucket cut from a water container and a shovel made of tent material were used to dig the tunnel, Lee said. The opening was under a floorboard of the compound and was concealed with dirt.

Authorities in charge of the compound realized a tunnel was being dug after they found dirt in latrines and other places, Lee said.

"There have been a few other attempts at digging a tunnel but nothing of this size," she said.

U.S. guards fired on prisoners during a riot at Camp Bucca on Jan. 31, killing four detainees and injuring six others.

Insurgents trying to undermine the formation of a new government, meanwhile, seemed to intensify their attacks, carrying out four suicide car bombings that killed 17 Iraqi security officials and two civilians. Militants have stepped up attacks against Iraqi police and soldiers who are key to an eventual U.S. withdrawal.

Twin suicide car bombings Friday in Iskandriyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad, targeted an Iraqi army convoy and police barracks and killed four policemen, two civilians and an Iraqi soldier, police officials said. Eight other members of the security forces and 15 civilians were injured.
Another suicide car bombing Friday targeted an Iraqi convoy south of Baghdad, leaving one Iraqi soldier dead and four others injured, police Capt. Muthama Abdul Rida said.

In Ramadi, where a Thursday bombing killed 11 Iraqi soldiers and injured 14 people, another car bomb exploded Friday. It targeted a U.S.-Iraqi convoy but only killed two attackers.

In Baghdad on Friday, gunmen killed Col. Salman Muhammad Hassan and injured two of his sons as they left a relative's funeral, security officials said. Police also said Friday they found two decapitated bodies clad in Iraqi army uniforms a day earlier on a road north of Baghdad.
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Associated Press reporter Douglass K. Daniel in Washington contributed to this report.

revel, Thank you for making the point: Bush is a two-faced hypocrite - first class. People like ican and McG will never understand hypocrosy, because they're in the same class of people.

I continue to be stunned that you do not understand that it is your, the claimant's, responsibility to support your claims with some evidence other than the fact that someone else has also made the same claim.

For example, if I were to follow the same line of irrational reasoning:

1. Your claims come with quotes of opinions of others making the same claim as you do, but are devoid of valid evidence. Another here above has posted as much. Now refute my claim with your own documentation that refutes my claim.

2. All people who advocate that government should transfer wealth from those who earned it to those who claim to need it, are advocating thievery by government. Walter E. Williams thinks so too, according to his "Imprimis" article, March 2005, Volume 34, Number 3. www.hillsdale.edu
Now refute my claim with your own documentation that refutes my claim.

I bet you still don't get it! I'll see what I can do to teach you to get it. Boy! I frankly admit that teaching people to fly airplanes is a lot simpler.

ican, In debate, you must have evidence to refute what I say. Not continue to challenge me. You do not understand anything about discussing an issue; it's not for me to add to my opinion with more and more media and articles that supports my position. BTW, we are not talkng about wealth transfer here. We are talking about government funded services to all Americans.

Cicerone,

What did you have for breakfast today?

Quote, "What did you have for breakfast today?" Is this supposed to be relevant?

I couldn't care less about what Bush wanted or wants or didn't want or doesn't want to do. I only care about what Bush actually did or did not or does or does not do. Preoccupation with people's own imaginings about what people advocate, think, consider, contemplate, wonder, imagine, or speculate doing, but little about what people actually do, has zero impact on my life and the lives of all those I love. I think the same is true for you and the lives of all those you love. I think the same is true for everyone. Whether or not anyone does the right thing or the wrong thing because of their good motives or bad motives, is not what affects human life. I think what really affects people's life is what people actually do. It is only their actions that count!

So, someone...anyone, prove me wrong!

Well, you seem a bit - aroused, and more aggressive than usual.

Oh. Maybe it's the bagel I had this morning with cream cheese, and two donut holes. My wife made me do it! She came with me to have coffee, and I usually just have coffee.

I figured it was her fault.