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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (215568)	1/21/2005 2:56:59 PM
From: Alighieri	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1574097

Then their primary argument for us leaving Iraq is that it costs too much. This is very hypocritical in my opinion. The primary argument is that it's hopelessly lost and the price in lives is too high. Do you get anything? I am beginning to wonder. Al

To: RetiredNow who wrote (215568)	1/21/2005 5:23:10 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574097

Yes, it's mind boggling to me. Some of the posters on this thread claim that they don't vote their wallets and blame Republicans for doing that. Then their primary argument for us leaving Iraq is that it costs too much. This is very hypocritical in my opinion. That's not the primary reason but its a reason nonetheless. We use it a lot because we know that for red voters, money talks. However, the true reason is that the war was a very big mistake that is costing us lives AND money, and will lead to huge problems down the road. The evidence is there for all to see. ted

To: RetiredNow who wrote (215568)	1/21/2005 9:45:41 PM
From: RetiredNow	Respond to of 1574097

Liberty Bell Ringer An idealistic Bush puts dictators on notice. Friday, January 21, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST If nothing else, President Bush's second inaugural address yesterday should put to rest the myth that the idealistic roots of his foreign policy aren't his own. The vast "neo-con" conspiracy would appear to start at the top. Not since JFK in 1960 has an American President provided such an ambitious and unabashed case for the promotion of liberty at home and abroad. "We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands," the President said. "The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world." If his critics were looking for a retreat from the challenges in Iraq, or back to the "realism" favored by so many in the foreign-policy establishment, they didn't find it in this speech. This clearly is a President transformed by September 11. He has drawn the essential lesson of that day, which is that the U.S. cannot consider itself safe from the world's turmoil simply by ignoring it. In George Washington's day, we could avoid "entangling alliances." But not in a world where fanaticism bred in the tyrannies of the Middle East can hijack planes and fly them into office towers in Manhattan. The dictators of the world were especially put on notice. "So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world," Mr. Bush declared. Even with that caveat "ultimate," this is no modest ambition. "We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people," Mr. Bush also said, in words that will get noticed in Riyadh, Cairo, Damascus, Tehran and Beijing, among other places. There will be, and should be, debates about how to achieve all this, and how fast. And critics will point out the inconsistencies of America doing business with a Musharraf or Putin despite their detours from democracy. But we made such accommodations during the Cold War as well, by necessity, and that didn't stop Presidents from letting the dissidents behind the Iron Curtain know that we were on their side. Mr. Bush is declaring--candidly, and even to our friends--that the dictatorial status quo endangers U.S. interests, and so America will not help sustain it. Some commentators mentioned yesterday that Mr. Bush left the word "Iraq" unspoken. But in a sense the entire speech was about Iraq, as a way of explaining to Americans why the sacrifice our troops are making there is justified. He asked for the patience, and the endurance, of the American people in this effort--and the striking thing to us is how much he has received of both. We suspect that is because, with his invocation of liberty, Mr. Bush is speaking to and for the bedrock idealism of the American people. opinionjournal.com