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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: geode00 who wrote (75396)	8/28/2007 7:27:50 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Bush's next invasion: Vietnam? ______________________________________________________________ Following the president's logic, our best move is to repeat a huge mistake - By Rosa Brooks Re-invade Vietnam! Oh yes. You thought the Bush administration was fresh out of ideas? You thought that with Karl Rove leaving, the administration that brought us the war in Iraq and "Mission Accomplished" had no more tricks up its sleeve? Think again. On Wednesday, speaking before a Veterans of Foreign Wars audience, President Bush did something he had previously avoided: He compared the Iraq war with the Vietnam War, agreeing that Vietnam does hold lessons for U.S. policy in Iraq. Can't argue with that. For most Americans, the lessons of Vietnam were reasonably clear before we invaded Iraq and have been painfully reinforced by the ongoing disaster there: Don't fight needless wars; don't go blundering around in countries where you don't know the language, history or culture; don't underestimate the power of nationalism, ethnicity and religion to bind together -- or tear apart -- people whose interests otherwise seem to diverge or converge; and, most of all, don't imagine that military force can solve fundamentally political problems. But the president, who has his own very special set of history books, drew the public's attention to some entirely different lessons from Vietnam. To Bush, the "unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens." Right! To Bush, the tragedy of the Vietnam War is that we didn't let it drag on for another decade or so. Some might quibble with Bush's understanding of historical causation. Yes, many innocent civilians suffered in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam -- but it's more accurate to attribute their suffering to the prolongation of the war itself, rather than to the U.S. withdrawal as such. It's hard to be precise (as is the case in Iraq today, no one kept careful count of Vietnamese civilian casualties, and all sides in the conflict had an incentive to fudge the true figures), but somewhere between 1 million and 4 million civilians died as the war needlessly dragged on, many killed by U.S. weapons. Millions more were displaced. But those are details. Bush went on to assert that "another price to our withdrawal from Vietnam" was the rise of "the enemy we face in today's struggle, those who came to our soil and killed thousands of citizens" on 9/11. Yup -- it's so obvious! The U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam caused the rise of Al Qaeda -- and, by extension, "our withdrawal from Vietnam" ultimately turned Iraq into "the central front" in "the war on terror." Once you're in the right frame of mind -- the Right frame of mind, I should say -- the logic becomes blindingly clear: Step 1: In 1975, the Vietnam War ended and young Osama bin Laden, age 18, saw that the mighty U.S. could be brought low and that an unhappy citizenry could push a democratically elected government to end an unpopular war. Step 2: Hmm. This step is a little tougher. Al Qaeda attacked the U.S. on 9/11. Then Bin Laden, bearing the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam constantly in mind, um . . . somehow tricked us into going to war in Iraq . . . where Al Qaeda had no presence prior to the U.S. invasion . . . because he knew we'd make a mess of things . . . and that Al Qaeda could move in while we were bogged down fighting insurgents . . . and bog us down even more? Something like that. And from there, we easily reach Step 3: We are stuck in a quagmire in Iraq, just as in Vietnam! Millions of civilians are paying the price for U.S. over-reaching -- just as in Vietnam! Our credibility is suffering -- just as in Vietnam! The American public has lost faith in the war -- just as in Vietnam! Bin Laden is happy to see us brought low -- just as in Vietnam! If we leave, more bad things may happen, and Bin Laden will also be happy -- just as in Vietnam! Step 4. Therefore, as the president explained Wednesday, we must stay in Iraq forever, until every last terrorist or every last Iraqi civilian is dead, whichever comes first. But Bush forgot to mention Step 5, which follows logically from Steps 1 to 4. How can we show the innocent civilians of Southeast Asia that we haven't forgotten them and simultaneously send a message of resolve to the Iraqi people? How can we show Al Qaeda once and for all that the U.S. is not to be trifled with? It's time for Step 5: Re-invade Vietnam. Because no matter what they say -- it's never too late to repeat the mistakes of the past. latimes.com

To: geode00 who wrote (75396)	8/29/2007 1:01:27 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

RESUME: GEORGE W. BUSH 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20520 ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT: - I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record. - I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week. - I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history. - I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period. - I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period. - I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her. - I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President. - I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations. - My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. History, Enron. - My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision. - I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history. I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed. - I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts. - I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any President in U.S. history. - I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States government. - I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history. - I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission. - I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law. - I refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. "prisoners of war" detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention. - I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election). - I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television. - I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. - I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history. - I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind. - I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. citizens, and the world community. - I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime. - In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends. - I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security. - I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD. - I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice. RECORDS AND REFERENCES: -All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view. - All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view. - All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.