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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (742389)	6/11/2006 3:13:08 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769670

General Casey appeared on three Sunday morning news programs — all of which were broadcast before the Iraqi security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, predicted the troop cuts on CNN — and he carried a cautiously upbeat message about Mr. Zarqawi's death and its impact on his group of mostly foreign militants. "They are hurt badly," he said. "But again, you can't stop terrorist attacks completely." General Casey told "Fox News Sunday" that American-led forces were conducting follow-up raids informed by intelligence gathered as the coalition moved in on Mr. Zarqawi, and apparently also by names and phone numbers on computers found in the rubble of the remote house where he died. Mr. Rubaie also said Mr. Zarqawi's death could have a galvanizing effect. He predicted a splintering of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a particularly brutal group that had intimidated many Iraqis into shunning political participation. As long as the national unity government and Iraqi security forces continue to make progress, "I think we're going to be able to see continued gradual reductions of coalition forces over the coming months and into next year," the general said on the CBS News program "Face the Nation." General Casey noted that the Iraqi government is poised to announce a new plan to improve security around Baghdad. General Casey spoke a day before President Bush was to begin intensive consultations — on Monday with his own advisers at his Camp David retreat, and on Tuesday with the new Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki via video hookup — on strategies to bolster the Iraqi government and tangibly improve the lives of ordinary Iraqis. General Casey said he did not plan to ask Mr. Bush for more troops, but he declined to say whether he would urge any cutbacks. Bush administration officials have played down the prospect that the strategy sessions would lead to quick troop reductions. Iraqi officials like Mr. Rubaie have at times made more optimistic troop projections than those offered by American officials, who say instead that any withdrawal will depend on conditions in Iraq and the ability of Iraqi security forces to operate largely without the support of the American-led coalition. Still, congressmen seized on Mr. Rubaie's statement as offering hope. "That's an authoritative statement," Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, said on CNN. "I think we ought to do everything we can to hold them to it." But a Democratic senator, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, added a caution. "The reality in Iraq," he said, also on CNN, "is that the jihadists are just a small portion of the instability." Mr. Rubaie predicted that Mr. Zarqawi's death would have a "huge" impact, as Iraqis began feeling safe to take part in the political process. He also confirmed the American account of events around the militant's death. General Casey, asked about a report that one witness claimed to have seen soldiers beating a critically wounded Mr. Zarqawi, dismissed them bluntly as "baloney." Like Mr. Rubaie, he said American troops sought to minister aid to the injured Qaeda leader, but added that it was too late. "He died while American soldiers were attempting to save his life," General Casey said.

To: KLP who wrote (742389)	6/13/2006 2:08:35 AM
From: RMF	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

KLP....As far as the recession of 2000-1, did you ever hear anything about the tech bubble bursting? That was a bit of a hit...I know because I got hit too. I don't blame it on Clinton, but to some degree I blame it on Greenspan. If he had wanted to, he could have cooled those market excesses. If you think Bush pulled us out of that recession, I'd have to disagree with you. Bush cut taxes for the rich, (including me to some extent), but I don't think that spurred the economy that much. Again it was Greenspan and the FED. 50 year lows in interest rates and a very loose monetary policy. Bush DID just ignore monetary restraints and flooded the country with "borrowed" money. That always works. The MAIN result of both Bush's and Geenspan's work was the over 30% depreciation in the dollar we've seen over the last 5 years and the resultant incipient inflation we are now seeing bubbling to the surface.