I am pretty fond of my pole. If only I could convince more women to take it.
Posts made by Lizardbaby
-
RE: The Polls
-
RE: The debate
Wargaming,
What mattered? That Sadam could provide good documentation, or that he give up all his WMD? Do we invade for either reason? History shows what we did BTW. That is gonna go in the books. Maybe not in America, but pretty much everywhere else. We invaded Iraq for WMD. They did not have em. Ops.
I would prefer to have had another resolution to that little snipit. That’s my take if asked in the way you phrased the question. Does that make me weak? I don’t think so. I think my way makes us 100,000 troops stronger. I think it puts 120 billion dollors into defense that will be spent instead shoring up Iraq. We have lost over 1000 men, 120 billion dollars (so far) so we could look tough. Great. In Diplomacy sometimes you just rattle the saber.
We had just invaded Afganistan, VERY sucessfully. We did not need to prove we meant what we said. Now we have nuthing left to give. We are not a threat to any other nations. We are pullig troops out of deployments all over the world. Is that the the act of a strong nation? Does that make us more scary to our enemies? To be a Diplomat you need to understand that everything, even American might has a limit. Once you reach that limit your threats become empty. Now ask yourself, “Why is Iran making nukes now?”. “Why is N. Korea making nukes now?” “What are other counrties gonna do while we are hamstrung, so we could appear resolute?”In this instance a waffle would have been better. Call me names, dove etc. It does not change the truth. There are no WMD in Iraq, but there damn sure are in other countries and we can’t do Jack about it.
-
RE: The debate
Something that keeps getting glossed over bugs me. Everyone (both sides) keep saying we could not trust weapons inspections to disarm Sadam. What we are forgetting is, it turns out we went to war because Sadam was a bad record keeper. He could not prove he got rid of the WMD. He did do it though. They are G O N E. He DID disarm.
He’s still a scum sucking pig, but he did what we asked him to do. Had he been able to provide whatever documentation we required, and I don’t pretend to know if it was reasonable or not, we would not have gone to war.
Do I want Sadam back? Nope. Do we have to make this a win? Yes, pretty much at any cost. Still, as people keep looking back at why we went to war, the irony keeps sticking in my throat. A good accountant would have been able to avoid the whole thing. Unless Bush was going to war no matter what. ;) -
RE: The debate
Rats. I did not think of draw. Sorry. If a mod wants to add that option cool. I can’t.
-
RE: Iraqi Elections
Taxation without representation. Taxes are fine, as long as you get a benfiet from them. Paying for nothing was the big problemo.
Ok, France. Regardless, a populist uprising is the only way to change government. You can’t push any form of government on anyone, unless we count Anarchy as a form of government.
My point still stands. We are trying to get out fast. To do so we are skipping steps that would make this their process instead of ours.F_alk,
I am sorry you think I am being bigotted here. I do respect them and their culture. That is really my point. We are trying to hoist on them ideas that do not necessarily originate in their cultural frame. Without a broad education, ideas originating from other cultural frames will not easily seep in. They certainly won’t take hold if you have people that think they are evil killing people that say otherwise. From my standpoint the only way to encourage Democracy is for people from Iraq (or where ever) to become farmiliar with them. Maybe even see them in action by coming to America. Fear is usually a responce to the unknown. Anyway, I am not gonna back off my point. I don’t think they are ready nor particularly desirous of Western Stlye Democracy. -
RE: Iraqi Elections
F_alk,
I am not taking the time to be politically correct. Sorry, I just don’t care enough to rewrite this with that slant. Besides, it’s BS anyway. A large portion of the Islamic world goes to church run schools. We have all seen the pictures by this point. 100 kids all sitting reading the Koran over, and over and over. That does not count as a solid education in my book. It prepares them for squat, besides being holy men or religious martyrs. They already have enough of both. We need to give them options. It also does not remotely give them the mindset that people should be allowed to have differing ideas. If you can’t accept that people can be different and still coexist, you can’t have democracy. It’s a cornerstone. That’s a big idea. One I have seen no evidence of in the Middle East, in any corner. Every time they interview a “man on the street” I hear about how evil whatever other side of the fence is and usually how they will punish them. Small ideas. With thinking like that they are doomed. -
RE: Iraqi Elections
Oh and I am not sure I can call the post war handling wrong. More like the expectations where just crazy. Dick Channy really believed we would be welcomed as liberators? What’s he smoking?
More boots on the ground I suppose. I am starting to waffle. Maybe it’s my support for Kerry soaking in. Ha ha ha! Anyway, if we want a free Iraq we will have to be willing to live there for 10 years or more. We will have to send teachers and bring over as many Iraqis as we possibly can. We need to teach them what we are offering them. We need them to believe in the outcome. We would have to change our quick fix mentality. If we are not willing to spend 10 or more years there and accept the deaths and the HUGE bill, we have already failed. If that is true, we should just get the hell out ASAP. At this point we just need to decide what we really want to happen there. I am on the fence now. Sure, I am still pissed because I did not want to go in the first place. Now that we are there, I guess I need to understand what we REALLY want to happen. Neither side is being very realistic about Iraq at this point. -
RE: Iraqi Elections
Your incorrect. Democracy has evolved from under Autocracy. The United States for instance. ;) I could name many others.
Democracy is not the next step for them. Theocracy is the next step. They are gonna look like Iran.
Education is their downfall IMO. That should be our focus. Think long term. Say 15 - 20 years. Start getting big ideas in the hands of their general populous. They don’t understand the choice we are trying to give them. -
RE: Iraqi Elections
A bigger question is not will they, but rather should they have ellections? I have to agree with people that say a Constitutional Convention should come first. Give them ownership of this thing called Democracy. What we think it should look like will not work there. Heck, at times it does not work here very well. Regardless, nobody will be willing to fight and die for some other guys version of Freedom. THEY must come up with what Freedom means for them. Then the zealots would be on OUR side.
It does not matter. They will have some sort of ellection. Those ellected will be walking targets, like the people in office now. Iraq is not gonna be a vacation spot for 15 years or more.
-
RE: Iraqi Elections
For the record, I never said I wished you stuck in hell. I said I would go to hell if that was what it took to be away from you. See? What a selfless act! Hee hee! Just kidding.
You feel very strongly about your stance. That’s cool man. You came on a tad strong. Take it down a notch and I will play nice too. -
RE: Fish Stem cells for rare seafood??
I put yes because a hungry belly has not regrets. So we will eat whatever we have to in order to survive. Would be nice if we where smart enough to preserve our food supply though. :)
-
RE: Favorite military service
The entire contents? Man I hate moving! Can you imagine?! “Sir, we have run out of blankets covering the Statue of Liberty. We will either have to make another trip or risk scratching the paint on the White House.”
-
RE: Favorite military service
Not true Marine. Without a carrier force where would our planes would be? I took Navy because they keep our enemies from ever crossing the Ocean in the first place. :)
-
RE: Favorite military service
So much I could say about them all! I went with navy.
-
RE: 1000 year Reich, was it possible?
Who could argue with logic like that?! Dork
-
RE: Michael Moore, Genius or Idiot?
Mixed emotions on him. I agree with a good chunk of his message. On the other hand, he does spin his “documentaries” which takes away from anything like journalistic integrity. That makes calling it a documentary really unfair. He has some items in Fahrenheit 911 that I don’t think where true.
I guess I give him an A for putting important info in a format that people can/ will chew and a D for being impartial.
Course, he never claims to be impartial… Dunno.
Seems like he has become bolder and thus less impartial with each successive release. His next might just be a rant.
People that hate him, say he hates America. I think he’s become a zelot. He resonates with the left because the leaders on the left had become slient. In a perfect world, Rush and Moore would be splinters. In our world they are main stream. Hating them is kinda silly. They are just a reflection of America. If America was not in large numbers dissatisfied with the War and Bush in general, the movie would not be doing so well. -
RE: Iraq now has a government!
Geze,
The, “It’s amazing I won” comment has to be one of my favorite ones. This site has some other good ones.
http://www.vanbergenbravenboer.nl/Speaks-bush-en.html