This is a long, long comment left on the Mint 400 in response to this post.
seed, you know I like you guys but you are being intellectually dishonest in your explanation. Pelosi's comment was made three years before 9/11 when it was entirely plausible that Saddam was still stockpiling WMDs. And Clinton did not start with, Let's attack those Iraqi's so I can prove I'm a better man than my daddy (who told Dubya not to invade because it was a fucking swamp that would be damned near impossible to get out of, just like all of the military leaders).
The reality of the Iraq War II, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, is that it was predicated on lies and outright deceit. George Bush went on national television and said Iraq posed an imminent threat to the continued existence of the USA. An imminent threat that never materialized, so he tried several other tactics to try and justify his invasion of Iraq. From the lies about Saddam trying to acquire yellowcake (for which his team destroyed not just Valerie Plame's cover but pretty much our entire intelligence gathering operation in much of the Middle East) to Saddam being a brutal dictator.
All of this overlooking the irrefutable fact that Saddam Hussein had absolutely nothing to do with the attacks on 9/11. Nothing. Bush pushed the war in the wake of 9/11 knowing America was hungry for revenge and blood to avenge our lost citizens and the brutal attack on our nation. He used national mourning to push his own agenda and launch a war in Iraq.
And you're saying Clinton was the terrorist recruiting lightning rod? That's utter bullshit. Clinton is not and cannot be responsible for all of the colossal fucking screw ups George Bush has done. Its Clinton's fault that Bush's team didn't read the memos and plans about dealing with Al Qaeda, its Clinton's fault that Bush attacked another country without a plan to extract our troops, its Clinton's fault that Dick Cheney shot his hunting buddy in the face. Blaming everything on Clinton is a lame ass bullshit cop out.
North Korea posed and continues to pose a hundred times more dangerous threat to the US and the rest of the world. And Bush ignored them for years. While they worked on their weapons of mass destruction we absolutely knew they had.
And yes, the short period of time to get buy-in does, in fact, hold water. Once troops are committed to a course of action, it is all but impossible to stop them. Once the truth of the Bush's lies about Iraq became known, and they are widely known and understood, it was too late to stop the invasion and toppling of the Iraqi government.
The election yesterday is a tacit demonstration that America is fed up with the war, the lies and the corruption amply demonstrated by the Republicans in power. Numerous Republican "strongholds" voted Democrat because they are sick of the bullshit.
You're not sure Clinton could have gotten support from other nations to engage in a stupid war based on lies? Good. He wouldn't have done so in the first place. But keep in mind that the entire damned world (aside from the terrorists) wanted to bend over backwards to help us out after 9/11 and Bush squandered every bit of good will with his pathetic ego-stroking swaggering. France and Russia and everyone else would have done anything to help us capture and punish the ones responsible for attacking us. Only that wasn't on Bush's agenda and bin Laden stills runs free to this day, more than 5 years later. Ask someone who lost their dad or mom on 9/11 if they think justice has been served by Saddam being sentenced to death. Ask them if they feel vindicated by his capture and puppet show trial. Bush gave up on capturing bin Laden because it was too fucking hard to capture him and Iraq was just sitting there like a big fucking goose, ready to get shot to hell and paraded around town.
Your dismissal of Bush's wildfire spending on the tech bubble bursting is, also, utter bullshit. The Iraq war has been spectacularly poorly run and managed with billions and billions lost. The war was also sold on the premise that it would be paying for itself in short order due to the oil production, funny how that gets overlooked these days. Regardless of how you spin it, Clinton oversaw the growth of a budget surplus of epic proportions and Bush oversaw the inversion of that surplus into the worst deficit in history. Spin it all you like but the party of "fiscal responsibility" is anything but. And Bush, just a few weeks ago, accused the Democrats of not having a plan to fix his own fucking budgetary masturbation.
Same sex marriage, he's basing his decisions on his religious beliefs when he's supposed to be basing his decisions on the Constitution of the US, the document he swore not once but twice to uphold. Instead, he holds up the Bible and says that it is his rulebook.
Torture - let me see if I can distill that long-winded partisan bullshit. Terrorists don't wear uniforms and don't fight fair so its okay to torture them. Is that about it? I didn't read it overly closely, not when he started peppering it with insults about the Democrats. What's the fucking point? Rationalizing torture is rationalizing torture. I don't give a damn how you do it, its still wrong. The US had the higher moral ground and lost it because of torture. The US has no credibility in the world now because of torture. Torture is what the enemy does. Torture is not what America is about and its despicable to try and rationalize it by saying the enemy doesn't fight fair so we don't have to. That's crap. Torture is wrong, justifying torture is an inherently flawed perspective. We have no moral authority now because we have been dragged into the muck along with the scumbags who want to exterminate us. We have become no better than them and, in doing so, they have won a victory because they have changed our moral backbone to suit their own. You may think torture is justified but I do not and will not, no matter what.
FEMA - Bush gutted FEMA before Katrina, he underfunded it to a frightening degree and castrated its capabilities. There were plenty of hurricanes that beat the holy shit out of the US during Clinton's terms but FEMA was able to and did respond quickly and capably. Did people still die during Clinton's terms because of natural disasters? Sure. But a hell of a lot less died needlessly because of bureaucratic assholery and underfunding. Your metaphor about healthcare is crap. FEMA works well when it has the funds, equipment and staff to run. It has in the past but Bush didn't think it was important and there's the shocking mess that was Katrina (New Orleans is still fucked all to hell now, more than a year later).
Terrorist recruitment. Clinton was used to recruit terrorists, sure. But Clinton hasn't been in power in six years and Bush has accelerated the recruitment. Blaming the current recruitment on Clinton is baseless and, as I said earlier, intellectually dishonest. Here, don't believe me? Read this from the LA Times, an analysis by 16 US Intelligence units. Here's a quote: "It paints a fairly stark picture of what we all know, and that this is a movement that is spreading and gaining momentum around the world," said the official familiar with the document. "Things like the Iraq war have given the terrorists recruiting tools and places to ply their trade and a training ground."
And back to Pelosi, she's the bad guy here? She's the one that will cause the trouble? I suppose you'll start blaming her for all the fuckups from BushCo next. She hasn't even begun to lead in the House and yet she's already been demonized. But you are still more than willing to give Bush the benefit of the doubt, you're still willing to believe his lies about the war. You are engaging in a double standard of intellectual dishonesty in assuming the worst about Pelosi and not recognizing Bush's legions of mistakes in judgment and outright deceptions perpetrated against our country.
The 10% swing you dismiss pushed the seat of power in the House and, very likely, the Senate back to the Democrats so that Bush cannot do as he pleases with both of them no longer in his pocket. Maybe things won't be different but I don't buy it and neither do every single political pundit I've seen interviewed since the elections last night. The balance of power has been restored and Bush is already demonstrating a much more reconciliatory tone.
And Rumsfeld has fallen on his sword already.
The facts are not supporting your line of reasoning. The facts do not fit your Clinton-is-the-devil rhetoric. Clinton was a pretty good president who worked hard to avoid war whereas Bush leapt into war as quickly as he could. Clinton may have had his faults but they are miniscule in the face of Bush's ego and religious zealotry over-riding his advisors and military leaders best advice.
But you go right on and demonize Nancy Pelosi for using her being lied to about Iraq as political traction. Its wrong but you go on thinking it. She has begun on the right foot by calling for honest, integrity and transparency. If she doesn't deliver then I will call for her head just as loudly as those who are already calling for it. But I will give her the opportunity to deliver on her promises before presuming she's lying. Especially in light of your willful ignorance of Bush's bold-faced and absolutely shameless lies and deceit.
Tags: politics, Pelosi, election, Iraq, lies
No comments:
Post a Comment