Iraq, the French and the Germans and the Russians too

[Jim Thorpe]

RE: Well, it looks like my post number three thousand is co

Roy,
Here is a simple one that showed it's face in Feb of 2003. I think you can agree that you must have been blinded by some bad liquor or someone had hit you on the head earlier in the day....
"God bless the French…something I would never had thought of saying as little as six months ago. BUT…God bless the French!…and the Germans and the Russians too! "

Yes, I have left out the context of this statement but even WITH context that statement is crazy....This is like the old picture of wearing a leisure suit where you just have to say "what was I thinking?"....

 

[tintin]

RE: Well, it looks like my post number three thousand is co

Jim Thorpe,

You quote Roy and comment

Here is a simple one that showed it's face in Feb of 2003. I think you can agree that you must have been blinded by some bad liquor or someone had hit you on the head earlier in the day....
"God bless the French…something I would never had thought of saying as little as six months ago. BUT…God bless the French!…and the Germans and the Russians too! "

If I remember well, it was part of Roy's anti-Iraq war comments.

Actually, I thought, and still think, that Roy was at his soberest moment in his life when he wrote these words. Obviously, even after THREE years of carnage, you still do not agree with Roy and the rest of the world that the illegal invasion of Iraq by the imperialist US forces, under the false pretense of getting at Saddam’s WMDs, was a criminal act, under international law! Hitler did the same in Europe some 60 years ago, and you know what happened to him, and to his associates who ended up in front of an international court in Nuremberg.

I am not one to defend President Jacques Chirac, but his action in leading the free world to rebuke Bush’s and his neocons’ folly should make him one of the real hero of humanity.

650,000 Iraqi civilians killed, almost 3,000 US soldiers killed, more than 20,000 US soldiers horribly wounded and crippled for life. You must be very proud of having supported and still supporting this US imperialist adventure. It’s starting to rival Saddams’ record of atrocities.

As for the 650,000 Iraqi civilians killed, if there is an afterlife and they can see from above the spectacle, they should have the satisfaction that their sacrifices has not been in vain: they have stopped the US neocon imperialists in their tracks. If you don’t see it, you are more than deaf and blind: the US's plans for world conquest has been defeated by a simple developping country. It is just a matter of time (and of more unnecessary deaths on both sides) before the US invaders pack up and retreat back to where they belong. :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

 

[Roy]

RE: Well, it looks like my post number three thousand is co

Now we are getting somewhere. London got the point first, and so did DCC.

Jamie, it’s not making the money that is the factor in determining greed, rather it is what one does with it that counts. DCC knows I was “busting his chops” but seriously there are a number of very well off expats (me not being one of them) who do very well with their businesses here, and yet do nothing to improve Bali. I have been “preaching” (sorry about that) “giving back” to Bali since day one on this forum.

Just so you know Jamie, we don’t own much of what we sell on eBay, but rather we are brought things by folks who know of our good track record there and are looking to sell for one good reason or another. With those items, we make little, if any profit, yet we provide a good selling venue to these Balinese who have little other opportunity to sell, especially in the current economic climate.

Jim...round trip tickets too? Sorry about that, but I’m afraid not. But, this caught my eye...that quote of mine from Feb 2003, viz

"God bless the French…something I would never had thought of saying as little as six months ago. BUT…God bless the French!…and the Germans and the Russians too! "

If anything, that statement was prophetic, as the context was in relation to Bush Jr’s war in Iraq, and the courage of those particular world leaders to not be hog tied by this mad Texan. I also recall making statements back then along the lines of, “here we go, another Vietnam.” Funny how Senator John Kerry was recently lambasted for telling the truth about who it is that is most likely to end up there fighting this war. The same was true during the Vietnam era. Care to speculate on how many sons and daughters of members of Congress that have fought in Iraq, or are there now?

Since WWII, it’s America’s most unfortunate that fights her wars. Kerry’s comment may have been “politically incorrect” but at least he had the gonads to speak the truth.

Since you got me started on this, care to comment on the “hero of Iowa” Rush Limbaugh's recent comments relating to Michael J. Fox and his battle with Parkinson’s disease and fight for stem cell research?

While I sure have made my share of nutty comments on this forum, that my friend, is not one of them.

Anyway, keep it up. I’ll be seeing “Matts” tomorrow she can add her input as to further “ground rules” then. Have fun...as I’m following the quote DCC raised...”what, me worry.”

Daniel, we are posting at about the same time, so I'll read your post now.

 

[Roy]

RE: Well, it looks like my post number three thousand is co

Daniel, I “hear you” but I wouldn’t go so far as to claim any US “imperialist” views, or desire for world domination (aside from economic domination), as I really believe the vast number of Americans have a good sense of fair play, despite their often displayed ignorance of other cultures.

The idea, however, that all the world should be under some form of western style democracy is ludicrous, and the war in Iraq is making that very evident. The really sad part of that lesson is that Vietnam should have taught Americans that lesson over twenty five years ago.

Anyway, I can attest that Jim is a really great guy. He may be somewhat brain washed, but he thinks the same of me, which is why we get along so well!

In a few days we'll see exactly what many Americans think as we vote during mid term elections. This election is just as important for the world (including little Bali) as for the American people. Let's hope wisdom and common sense prevails!

 

[tintin]

RE: Well, it looks like my post number three thousand is co

Roy,

I am not pussy-footing around, and when I say “US world domination,” I mean “US’s world domination.” Empires have always been created for the purpose of economic domination for the benefite of their welfare and riches at home. It used to be called “colonialism.” (ask the English, the French, the Spanish, etc). Now that the USSR is out of the way, the US thought it had a free rein in imposing its power and “colonize” the rest of the world. The neocons (who are they? Paul Wolfowitz, Norman Podhoretz, Elliott Abrams, Richard Perle, Michael Ledeen, Max Boot, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, William Bennett, Peter Rodman, etc), have taken over the feeble-minded Bush in their dream of the “permanent war.” It’s not me saying this, one just has to read some of the neocons' publications and manifestos.

In the US, we are anxiously waiting for Tuesday’s results. I would like very much to agree with you, but I am afraid it wont change much in the US foreign policy, as long as the bunch of neocons occupy the White House. Unfortunately, the only reason why the Republicans are going down this coming Tuesday is not because of any moral considerations on the part of most of the US electorate, but because the US power has not been able to prevail as fast as most of Americans would have wanted it to.

I don’t know Jim, never met him, and would not care to meet him either.

 

[Jim Thorpe]

RE: Well, it looks like my post number three thousand is co

My friends! Relax! This was not to start an Iraq war argument! It was to start a FRENCH bashing argument!

Tintin, I will invoke the 24 hour rule before I respond to your imperialism/Hitler claims and how I must be proud of them....Other than to say that once you compare anyone to Hitler you have lost any argument.

Roy, I think you are stuck in the past. The current military is all volunteer and the best educated it has ever been. I have a couple of well educated employees that are or have been in Iraq. I think this just shows the elitism of John Kerry to suggest that the american armed forces are all uneducated lazy people.
With regards to M. Fox. I guess you didn't get the entire content of what was happening. I am not surprised since CNN didn't tell it over here. Michael Fox, in his autobiography, said that he didn't take his medicine prior to his congressional appearance suggesting that his twitches would be more pronounced by doing so.... Rush, whom I don't support or like, said that Fox was either acting or not taking his meds which he had already admitted doing in the past. I don't think it was an appropriate thing to say but if you think Kerry was right to say what he did then I think Rush was right to call Fox out on this. If Fox wants to jump into the political pit, then he knows there are vipers in it....

Lastly, I apologize if you think my post was about your opinion of the war. My posting should have been clearer. It was jokingly referring to anyone saying thank God for the French.

 

[Roy]

RE: Well, it looks like my post number three thousand is co

Actually Daniel, we totally agree. I was just trying to tone down the rhetoric a little bit. You might enjoy reading this letter I wrote that was published back in 2002 in the Jakarta Post.

This letter was originally published in the Jakarta Post, September 17, 2002 issue. It was pertinent at the time I originally wrote it, and it is perhaps even more pertinent now.

America’s New Colonialism

For the first time in history, be it unrecorded, ancient or modern, the world as a whole has no balance of power. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, there is only one “super power” left, and it is the United States of America. This should be an opportunity for the United States to embrace the world community in an unprecedented fashion, considering that the major threat to world peace, the cold war, has ended. But this has not happened. Rather, the US has shunned virtually every world community effort to limit pollution, eliminate poverty, and embrace a world judicial body. At the very point in time that America could truly shine as a beacon of freedom, espouse democratic governance, and be a truly God blessed land, it has failed most miserably. This is the ultimate tragedy of 911. The terrorists have won, as America has changed.

I imagine that my colonial ancestors, who fought so hard, and sacrificed all to achieve independence during the American Revolutionary War, are rolling in their graves, desperate to return to life and shed once again their light and vision of democracy and good governance, which now is so clearly obscured by greed, so often and revoltingly called, “American interests.” But even this is now overshadowed by what is clearly seen by the world at large as American revenge.

I am even more convinced that these venerable men of ages past would literally shudder with the realization that the United States has undertaken a resolute foreign policy of what I term, the new colonialism. After all, the right of self governance was at the core, the heart, and soul of American ideology at its inception. So, why is it then that American foreign policy seems so much to demand “being like Americans” then what it should be, which is “being freely yourselves?” Does it strike Americans so odd that we may like to buy your Mac Donalds hamburgers, but not your political ideology? Have American interests within the world transcended the economic and militarily strategic to become ideological, cultural and political? It seems so to me, an American, so you can surely bet it seems so to large numbers of the ASEAN population.

This “new” colonialism is not defined by literal occupation, but is just as real as the colonial days long past, as it requires agreement, capitulation, and subjection. The new colonial empire does not launch hundreds of ships loaded with armed men to conquer and subject. Rather, the new empire launches threats of trade embargoes, pressure on allies to join in the “fight” and engages in covert operations designed to undermine what I would call, the right to self governance. In other words, what right does the US have to prevent any country in this world from earning its own independence by struggle, or fighting its own civil war? How can the US deny anyone the right to walk the same path towards freedom that it walked itself?

President Bush’s recent speech to the UN was a most embarrassing and a painfully obvious example of a Super Power run amuk. Frankly, I was surprised he didn’t bang his shoe on the podium to emphasize his points! If you have the historical perspective I allude to, you might enjoy the irony that only history provides! But, what audacity is this? In essence, President Bush delivered an ultimatum to the United Nations! In reality what he said was “do something I like and agree with, or I’ll do it myself.” Can you imagine such a statement delivered to the world community by what is supposed to be the leader of human rights, freedom and governance “by the people, and for the people?” I can’t, and I am certain my ancestors could not either.

 

[swisshawaiian]

Thanks Roy for sharing your letter published in the Jakarta Post. I share each and every statement you made. Yes, let's hope that "common sense" will prevail this upcoming election.

 

[Alexandre]

The French at least are not resposible for the death of 200,000 Iraqis over the last 3 and a half years.

For Bush, the hatred he has been spreading across the world is coming home with the elections. Guess who's gonna get his ass kicked.

 

[ryyannon]

France's politicians and businessmen were so in bed with Saddam that had the country undertaken any military action, it would logically have been against the U.S. They chose the easy - rather than the ethical way out.

At present, they've got their hands full trying to figure out what to do with their own home-grown jihad.... :!:

 

[tintin]

Roy,

We surely agree on this point: America’s New Colonialism. Your letter published in the Jakarta Post, September 17, 2002 issue, was right on the money then, as it is now. I appreciated your eloquence. Thank you for reprinting it for those of us who had missed it.

Jim,

Thank you for the “heads up.” So, before you start twisting my words around, let me clarify my point about my comparison Bush/Hitler. As I thought I had made it perfectly clear in my post, my associating the two individual was (is) in the fact that they both started wars, invading countries that had not threaten them. This was (and still is, I believe) a crime under international law. As a result, many leading Nazis (Hitler chose the easy way out) were brought in front of an international court of justice in Nuremberg and condemned for their crimes against humanity. If there were any equal justice in the world, Bush and his gang should also be brought to answer for their crimes in Iraq, in from of a similar court. There stops my analogy between these two characters, and I was not talking about their ideologies. Although, before I close this subject, I would point out that the America’s “manifest destiny” espoused by many Americans, including the neocons, comes mighty close to the “Deutschland Uber Alles.”

On the subject of twisting words, let’s look at two very recent examples of twisting words.

John Kerry and his botched joke about Bush and Iraq.

Kerry said that his comment in question was “a botched joke about the president and the president’s people, not about the troops ... and they (the Republicans) know that’s what I was talking about.”

A Kerry spokeswoman, Amy Brundage, said that Kerry’s prepared text was “Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.”

Kerry made these remarks while campaign for California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides. Kerry opened his speech at Pasadena City College with several one-liners, saying at one point that Bush had lived in Texas but now “lives in a state of denial.”

He then said: “You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq. Obviously, he was trying to be humorous (the “new” Kerry?), but he screwed up in his delivery. (I realize that Kerry usually open his mouth to change his shoes :roll: ).

Michael Fox

It is a medical fact that the side effects of certain Parkinson medications, such as Anticholinergics, produce confusion and hallucinations. I personally watched Mr. Fox in a recent TV interview where he stated that he had chosen not to take his medicine when appearing in interviews, in order to be more mentally alert, to the detriment of him becoming more agitated. This is the choice he admits he made in full knowledge of the consequences. However, the Republicans, lead by (self admitted junky) Rush Limbaugh, jumped on Mr. Fox, ascribing him more sinister motives.

This being said, I am not naive: the above examples are just what is called "politics."

As for your quote,

My friends! Relax! This was not to start an Iraq war argument! It was to start a FRENCH bashing argument!

Why French bashing? What is your point, other than showing your prejudices, bigotry, and of course your ignorance? :evil: :evil: :evil:

 

[Sparky]

Well i could write pages on this subject, but keeping it brief everything i have read from Roy and Tintin is true.

America - For the third Century - This is a plan drawn up by Rumsfield and his cronies to keep America as the SUPERPOWER and RICHEST nation. They all met up a just before the 9/11 and all agreed that unless they had control of the OIL then America as a SUPERPOWER would eventually grind to a halt without oil. The WAR MACHINE can only keep moving and growing with OIL

9/11 happened and AFGHANISTAN was invaded but really they needed a hold on the MIDDLE EAST OIL RESERVES so a plan had to be hatched to invade IRAQ. The rest is history and Roy and Tintin you know what i mean so i need not go on any further other than one last thing ;

Why were America not so quick in taking out all the other dictators around the world so quicky as Saddam, who while we are on the point was not hated as much as Bush reckons and could at least control the country so well, because folks we are talking OIL OIL and OIL.

Ive gotta stop folks as i am getting into this and i will just go on and on and there is no need because as it is clear by Roys statements, that even though he is proud to be American he is embarassed by what the PUPPETS in powers are doing to wreck everything the great or some of the great presidents of the past did.

That definetely it folks
im outta here
good day or night where ever yous are
Sparks flying

 

[Alexandre]

by the way, this thread is just a way to check whether you are with us or aginst us. Jim Thorpe does not exist.

The initial message posted was meant to provoke replies so that the US administration can track potential dissenters on a worldwide basis.

If you are not with us, we will come and get you wherever you are, even if you are in Bali.

We have your IP address... :evil:

 

[Jim Thorpe]

Tintin,
I didn't put any words in your mouth as I didn't reply to you so you have set up a straw man and very capably knocked him down. You should be proud of yourself.

1. You compared Bush to Hitler without any details. You obviously don't know my opinion of Bush if you think I am going to defend him to any great length. So I think you have made a poor assumption.
2. Would you believe Bush if he said that, "oh, that wasn't what I meant to say, tomorrow I will give you my prepared speech." You would be laughing. I don't believe any of the politicians. Kerry has a history of saying incorrect and degrading things about the military. This is not an aberration but a continuation of his stance.
3.Michael J. Fox has admitted not taking his medication prior to his congressional speech this is what he says in his autobiography;
"I had made a deliberate choice to appear before the subcommittee without medication. It seemed to me that this occasion demanded that my testimony about the effects of the disease, and the urgency we as a community were feeling, be seen as well as heard. For people who had never observed me in this kind of shape, the transformation must have been startling. "
I said in my post that Rush was inappropriate, that I am not a supporter of Rush but I guess you didn't have time to actually READ my post. In fact, I think M. Fox doesn't understand his meds very well as many of these twitches are a result of the medication! Why I post this is because of the spinning and misconceptions which YOU continue to spin and spew throughout the forum.
With regards to France, do we really need to go thru the history of the U.S. / France alliance to know why many americans think that our "ally" shouldn't be considered an ally? Perhaps it was giving Saddam secret information on the U.S. government prior to the invasion? Perhaps it was the French guarantee of stopping any U.S. action? The Saddam bribed politicians?

Lastly, I think it has been you that have jumped to conclusions, showing your prejudice and ignorance, but to tell you the truth, I don't really care what you think. You can kiss my ass with your "assumptions" about me.

 

[Roy]

Jim, it pains me to point out the obvious, but this clear window, as posted by others, does not present anywhere near a favorable image of our current President, George Walker Bush, Jr.

History will hind and quarter this SOB, and I pray that no tax dollars are further wasted on any potential presidential library for him.

He was the worst possible President to be the President when America most needed a very skillful President. He has mocked the Constitution of the United States, and he has thrust the majority of Americans into a life of fear, and a belief that through his God, his war in Iraq is just.

He is a sick son of a bitch, and every day, needless American lives are being wasted on his dreams and ill founded visions. He should be impeached, and removed from office, along with his war mongering buddy Dick, and both thrown into Gitmo for a reality check.

While he deludes himself into believing the world is a safer place today, it is anything but that. What he has accomplished however, is the complete alienation of the Muslim world, and beyond that, many other countries that he “thinks” are allies.

“Either you are with us, or against us” will go down in history as the most arrogant words ever uttered by an American President.

Come on Jim! Who of any sort of right mind could support this lunatic? Has the America I once knew been flushed down the toilet?

 

[Jim Thorpe]

Roy,
We have talked at great length about Bush and I think you may remember that I am no big supporter of Bush as I am not a supporter of either political party. A pox on both their houses. But I am a supporter of this war and it happens to have Bush as the only president that we have.
I know you are good at history so I am surprised that you believe that the alienation of the Muslim world started with Bush.
Iran has shouted "death to america", long before Bush. The massacre of over 250 marines in the Beruit barracks was long before Bush. The Iranian hostage crisis was long before Bush. The Muslim dream of the the return of the Caliphate was long before Bush. The killing of Coptic christians in Egypt was long before Bush. The slaughter in Algeria was long before Bush. The embassy bombing in Tanzania and Kenya were long before Bush. This does not include the terrorist attacks that have nothing to do with the U.S. Beslan ring a bell?
Here is a link from 1994 (!) discussing the the growing terrorist threat.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/MiddleEast/BG1005.cfm
Do we really need to go thru every Islamic related terrorist event since then? Saying Bush is the cause is like saying chemotherapy caused the cancer patient's death. As you know and as I have said in multiple posts, I am not a supporter of Bush even though others continue to paint me as some sort of uber republican. I am a supporter of a policy that has supporters on both side's of the aisle. Just ask Joe Leiberman. Ask Hilary Clinton of 2003-2004. You want to know what happened to America? Just ask tintin. If you believe in gay rights, worked at clinics for AID victims, believe in reproductive rights, stood up for civil liberties, but agree with the war you are told, as I have just been told by tintin, that you are bigoted, prejuduced and ignorant.

So if people can be against the war AND be for the troops then I can be for the war and not be for Bush. You won't find a statement that shows I support Bush other than in the context of this war. Maybe I just chose not to publicly condemn him in a foreign forum just as it seems that tintin doesn't want to condemn Chirac, the butcher of Rwanda and Central Africa.

 

[tintin]

Jim,

… I don't really care what you think. You can kiss my ass with your "assumptions" about me.

That, as would say Saddam, is the “mother of all arguments.”

I did not have to make assumptions about where you politically stand, I just read some of your past posts and knew exactly where you were coming from. On several occasions, I remember you trying to start in some French bashing (in certain US circles, some time ago it was very much in, but not any longer, so get with it). Although obviously it was to steer the shit, I chose not to respond to it. But I could not let this last remarks of yours go unanswered.

I actually read your post, very carefully I must say. You started by shutting me off with,

… once you compare anyone to Hitler you have lost any argument.

And although you wrote “You compared Bush to Hitler without any details,” I DID compare Bush and Hitler in a very specific way, which I later elaborated on, so maybe you are the one who does not read.

Regarding my relating the two anecdotes regarding Kerry and Fox, I just don’t have a dog in the fight, so I really do not care. Like I said, it’s just more politics. However for you to write

Why I post this is because of the spinning and misconceptions which YOU continue to spin and spew throughout the forum.

You are the one who must be off his medicine. What “spin?” What “misconceptions?” I related another side to the stories, as there are always two sides to any story.

Now regarding the French. Chirac (but why pick on Chirac? Why not Schroeder? Or even the WHOLE world which was of Chirac’s opinion) warned Bush of the consequences of Bush’s criminal enterprise. When you are a friend to someone, you do your best to prevent this someone to get into trouble. This is the sign of a true friendship. But if this someone persists in his/her wrong way, why should you follow him/her?

And as you speculate without any iota of proof

Perhaps it was giving Saddam secret information on the U.S. government prior to the invasion? Perhaps it was the French guarantee of stopping any U.S. action? The Saddam bribed politicians?

you just show your bigotry.

The French had a close relationship with Iraq regarding its oil. The French companies, Total, Fina, and Elf, had worked out long ago an exclusive contract for oil exploitation in Iraq. That did not fit well with the Americans, and they calculated that once Iraq invaded, any oil deal made with the Saddam Government would be found nil and void and they would take over.

But at least the French did not provide, as did the US, Saddam with the raw material to manufacture poison gas, which he used during the 8-year Iran-Iraq war, and also against the Iraqi Kurds. And for a while, Reagan, through misinformation, wanted the world to believe that it was the Iranians who gazed the Kurds. And what about the brutal slaughter of Shiites who were encouraged then abandoned by the first President Bush?

Between 1997 and 2000, while Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, the company sold $73 million worth of oil field equipment and services to Saddam Hussein. Halliburton cleverly ran its business with Saddam through two of its subsidiaries, Dresser Rand and Ingersoll-Dresser, in order to avoid the sanctions. Finally, I also never saw any French minister shaking hand with Saddam, as Rumsfelt did, all the while he was gassing his own people.

So, Jimmy boy, have a closer look at your own Government, before you blame the French "traitors."

 

[Jim Thorpe]

Just like the old school books,
See tintin spin,
spin, tintin, spin.
You started the argument comparing Bush to Hitler and you did it without any details. Only after did you come in and add details. Yes, you do lose an argument when you invoke a Hitler comparison. There is even an internet definition for this. It is called Godwin's law. Google it.

Just as you show your bigotry toward anything american. I am surprised that you even call yourself that since your hatred oozes out of every post. I am surprised that you show your hypocrisy by defending France. The Butchers of Rwanda were responsible for 800,000 deaths. France was responsible for 1,5 million Algerian deaths. I am surprised that you would even bring up the u.s. and saddam since the number one supplier of arms to Iraq was France. Hypocrisy thy name is tintin.

You knew exactyly where I was coming from by my few posts here? No you saw someone NOT attacking Bush and made your assumptions. Other than this thread, show me on this forum where I have expressed my political stance on anything other than the war. Your thowing Haliburton just shows your ignorance and false assumptions as I don't give a shit about Cheney's connections, don't like him nor trust him. You are just another dKos wannabe diarist that tries to paint everyone with the same brush. You aren't anti-war, you are just on the other side. Time to show your French side and get out the white flag tinny tin tin, my boy.

 

[Bert Vierstra]

Gentlemen leave your "personal" stuff out of it.

 

[Roy]

Jim, Jim, Jim....I’m taking Mats to a very special, only once a year temple ceremony later today. When she comes to our house to be fitted out for her adat clothing, I’ll make sure she reads these last posts from you, after which, I’m sure she’ll agree that we simply must bring a symbolic offering for you, and for prayers that in two days, the madness takes a step towards ending. It’s time for the American people to say “BASTA”...Italian for enough!

Honestly, how can you possibly support the war in Iraq? Moreover, can you tell me...us...why are we there? We all know the obvious answer is oil...but how about a “nice” reason? Would that be to establish democracy for the people of Iraq? What great folly that is!

Yes, I am a student of history, and I can point to the bombing of the King David hotel in Jerusalem shortly after the end of WWII which killed many British troops that was carried out by a past prime minister of Israel. It was called terrorism even back then and it was carried out by an Israeli patriot fighting for the independence of Israel. But, can you point out for me how Iraq was some sort of hot bed of terrorism prior to being attacked without provocation or good reason?

Sorry, but I don’t need to read articles to know what is so obvious. What is obvious is that the threat of terrorism grows as American aggression grows. They go hand in hand. I have no doubts that the threat of terrorism is growing, and I also have no doubts as to why that is so true.

As a supporter of the war in Iraq, you are in a minority, even as a citizen living in the US. Support for the war in Iraq among the folks living in the US is less than overtly spoken non support. This growing anger over the war in Iraq has little to do with the hundred or so bodies of US service men and women that are brought home for burial each month, as is a growing awareness that we were WRONG to have attacked Iraq in the first place. In fact, we were morally wrong. There was no “clear and present danger” in Iraq, but there sure is a whole lot of oil!

I think of these current times as among the darkest times in our history. Neither the US President, or his cabinet are up to the challenges facing the office of President of the United States. Moreover, world opinion of the US is not favorable. The US is running out of friends, but it doesn’t seem to matter. It does matter, and the poor SOB who is next elected as President will be spending most every minute while awake working on restoring the good image in the world that the US once enjoyed.

If anyone accuses me of looking at my country from the outside, looking in, they would be 100% correct. I cannot deny the plausibility that if I was living there, as opposed to here in Bali, my views may be different. I’d like to think otherwise, but how can I say for certain?

Where I live, I NEVER hear bad remarks about the US from the Balinese. What I do hear from those that take the time to stay informed, (very few), is that our balance needs to be restored. As a nation, we have shifted our focus to anger, fear, and retribution. As those directions can destroy a person, so can they destroy a great nation.

Jim, it’s a waste that with all the US can do to effect positive change in this world that we all share, our focus is on the negative. That’s not only a real shame, it is more a travesty against the vision under which America was founded. It’s time for the American people to take their country back, and navigate it in the direction it was always intended to follow.