Rumsfeld: 'Iraq - we have no EXIT policy'

on the other hand, we could just order wal-mart to cease purchasing from the chinese and ruin their economy...

I am doubtful that you would want us to break off all ties with China, just because their leaders are fascist dictators who gun down helpless citizens in public squares for requesting freedom.

Quote:

I am doubtful that you would want us to break off all ties with China, just because their leaders are fascist dictators who gun down helpless citizens in public squares for requesting freedom.

Four dead in Ohio.

Brandon
It was foolish to have given Hussein bioweapons, although not relevant to the analysis of whether to invade now. As for supporting one bad country against another, this is not a philosophy classroom, and in the high stakes game of geopolitics, sometimes it is necessary to use what you've got. I am doubtful that you would want us to break off all ties with China, just because their leaders are fascist dictators who gun down helpless citizens in public squares for requesting freedom.

I believe that the intention is pretty much the same as this in Iraq, and what is being criticized is the fact that the intention is not more specific about exactly how to get out. However, just as in WW2, when one believes the stakes are high, thinking foremost of exiting is counterproductive.

Brandon9000 wrote:

I am doubtful that you would want us to break off all ties with China, just because their leaders are fascist dictators who gun down helpless citizens in public squares for requesting freedom.

... and I thought they were communists...

Quote:

I am doubtful that you would want us to break off all ties with China, just because their leaders are fascist dictators who gun down helpless citizens in public squares for requesting freedom.

Four dead in Ohio.

Brandon9000 wrote:

We, on the other hand, elect our government.

Or so we're led to believe.

Quote:

Brandon
It was foolish to have given Hussein bioweapons, although not relevant to the analysis of whether to invade now. As for supporting one bad country against another, this is not a philosophy classroom, and in the high stakes game of geopolitics, sometimes it is necessary to use what you've got. I am doubtful that you would want us to break off all ties with China, just because their leaders are fascist dictators who gun down helpless citizens in public squares for requesting freedom.

You keep going around in circles, Brandon and ignoring the facts. The USA has been one of the "bad" countries. Sad as 9-11 was, it was inevitable. The CIA said so. Numerous academics around the USA say so. Numerous sensible people know so.

As Noam Chomsky says; if you don't want to be affected by terrorism, don't engage in terrorism.

You, and many others, try to make out that the USA is one great gift to the world when in actual fact the USA has been and still is, responsible for a great deal of the suffering that goes on on this planet.

There are also many great things the USA has done. But to ignore the bad is just plain stupid [present company not included in this comment].

Truth be told, Brandon, I'm appalled at the astounding hypocrisy of a country that warmly engages "fascist dictators" [kinda got your political spectum a wee bit out of whack there] when it's convenient or there's potential wealth to be had, but then sanctimoniously, finds it "principled" [quotes canNOT illustrate how lightly I'm using that term] to bully a country that has a leader who truly cares for his people and doesn't pillage and loot the treasury.

Note how the USA has supported a lot of butchers in Latin America, leaders who stole huge sums from their treasuries but it terrorizes the ones who really want to help their own people, simply because of their political beliefs. Take this hypocrisy to its logical end and jail all the communist party members that live in the USA.

This is not the mark of someone being true to their espoused principles; it's nothing more than the sign of a big bully.

Need I point out that this is precisely the same situation with respect to Iraq. Do you think for a moment that the USA didn't know of all those years of Saddam butchery and yet they supported him, befriended him, embraced him.

As DTonM said, "oh brother".

JTT wrote:

Brandon9000 wrote:

We, on the other hand, elect our government.

Or so we're led to believe.

So, then, to be clear, your point is that our government is fundamentally no better than China's?

I don't know why we continue here. In thread after thread it has been pointed out to Brandon that the possession of weapons of mass destruction by Hussein was a contention of the administration, based on faulty information, which has not been borne out. We have pointed out that the administration bullied its intelligence sources for evidence. We have pointed out that Hussein was very unlikely to provide such weapons to anyone else even if he possessed them, a dubious proposition, because of the sword of Damocles hanging above his head, the reminder of which was English and American warplanes over his nation every day. We have pointed out to him time and again that the PNAC had this planned long before September 11, and that there has never been any evidence of the involvement of Hussein in that attack.

It makes no difference to Brandon. In thread after thread after thread, he trots out the same sad, shopworn excuses for the idiot Shrub and his idiot war.

Why bother?