Re: Interesting Thoughts
MichaelAllen wrote:
FDR... led us into World War II.
Germany never attacked us: Japan did.
From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost,
an average of 112,500 per year.
Never trust those damn emails, Michael. Actually, you do just fine, writing your own stuff.
Well, FDR did lead us into WW II, but as a matter of specific fact, we were at peace with Germany when she declared war on the U.S. It followed naturally from our declaration against Japan, and a German/Japanese treaty.
The facts in the "Ernie" piece above are easily verifiable, and are not themselves a solid basis on which to attack it. There are other bases for criticism , however. Some of the information and the comparisons, though interesting, are taken out of context and not truly meaningful (the time it took Teddy Kennedy to report the bridge incident, etc). Other cases involve important, but missing, facts (Germany declared war on the United States immediately after out declaration of war against Japan.).
Despite this, there is a message there about the degree to which Democrats have exaggerated and distorted facts and logic in their political attacks on the Bush administration. The civilian loss of life in Iraq due to the insurrection is certainly regrettable, but it is a good deal less than the more orderly and systematic killings carried out by Saddam's regime while it was in power. Economic growth has resumed after years of stagnation, Iraqis on the whole are already better off.
The beneficial consequences to the U.S. (and to most of the world) of establishing a tolerant, secular, and reasonably open government in Iraq are truly enormous. It will seriously blunt an otherwise growing Islamist movement which is expanding and threatening both the West and the generally backward and corrupt 'friendly' governments in the Moslem world. The creation of a model for more civilized development will have profound. lasting good effects and this will strike the Islamist movement at its core. The cost of this effort in human and economic terms is high, but no higher than others we face daily, with much less political sound and fury.
The indifference and selfish timidity of some nations, particularly France and others aligned with it ,are no different from the selfish blindness and willingness to collaborate with evil sytems, to protect their own comfort and safety, which they so amply demonstrated throughout the 20th century, from Versailles to Saravejo.
Quote:Despite this, there is a message there about the degree to which Democrats have exaggerated and distorted facts and logic in their political attacks on the Bush administration. The civilian loss of life in Iraq due to the insurrection is certainly regrettable, but it is a good deal less than the more orderly and systematic killings carried out by Saddam's regime while it was in power. Economic growth has resumed after years of stagnation, Iraqis on the whole are already better off.
Speaking of exaggerations. Care to provide any evidence to back up these claims? How many people were killed by Saddam? How many have died under US occupation? Keep in mind much of the claims of Saddam killings are themselves exaggerated. Its always easy to demonize an opponent by calling him a mass murderer and then making up numbers of how many he actually killed. I have certainly not seen figures of 1 million in mass graves found yet. The worst act by Saddam in 24 years was he allegedly gassed 30,000-50,000 Kurds. And that is in dispute as evidence points to it may have been Iran that gassed them.
I am not saying Saddam was a great guy, only asking for facts to back up your claim.
