Forums, God I love 'em

I love feedback, I love to stir the blood & rile up the already-unhappy unless everyone else is miserable types that populate political message boards

These are points I made about the Iraq war earlier today, and I'm still hoping that someone can spin these in a way that's both logical & positive for the Administration's Iraq strategy

At one point, I was asked if I'd have backed this war if the troops were better equipped with enough effective body & vehicle armor I said


No, I would still be as shrill against this war as possible

But this one basic fact-that US troops are underequipped as it relates to body & vehicle armor-completely undercuts any claims that this Administration supports the troops they send into battle

This was a war launched at the President's choosing completely, and it's absolutely inexcusable that US troops weren't fully equipped, trained & staffed before any invasion was launched against a country that was not physical threat of any kind to the US

That indicates a President who does not go to war as a last option, but a first response instead, one unwilling to see the individual faces under the helmets & behind the triggers

There were scandals in the Civil War when it turned out that troops were being supplied spoiled food by the contractors operating on the public's dime

That type of scandal is going on in Iraq, with US troops once again the victims of an anti-regulatory mindset in the Oval Office when it comes to dealing with military contractors, such as Halliburton and KBR

It's over two years since the invasion, and yet these problems over body & vehicle armor are STILL widespread

How is that possible when the US is spending over $6 Billion a month in Iraq, that shortages hit the US troops at all?

There's a shortfall-unexplained still at this point-of up to $8 Billion in missing US funds, that's money that could have been applied to providing body & vehicle armor, and instead it's disappeared down a financial black hole

Troops nowhere near equipped with body & vehicle armor, billions of $$$$$ unaccounted for, and cutbacks to veterans programs & benefits they've earned by living up to their end of the contract

It's policy at the Veterans Affairs Dept that vets are not to be told about benefits & programs they may qualify for unless the worker is directly asked by the vet about such programs & benefits specifically

Except for empty & self-serving rhetoric, I fail to see how this Administration shows any support or respect for those troops W sends into battle


Then, a reply to someone who criticized anti-war critics for not knowing President Jr's Iraq Plan



What HAS been W's plan all along?

What US pre-invasion predictions of post-invasion Iraq have been borne out in a postive fashion for the US, which US sponsored projects have come in on time & under budget?

What clear indicators are there that the Iraqis are in fact better off materially and on an everyday basis with the current US occupation?

How are daily suicide bomb attacks a positive indicator of any kind other than for the al-Qaeda volunteers President Jr's recruited so ably for Usama bin Laden?

How is the US mission easier when the troops are deliberately sent into battle by their Commander in Chief BEFORE they're equipped with enough effective body & vehicle armor?

How has placing a whole country's people on the front lines of a war they had nothing to do with, nor asked to take part in, made the US a safer place?

How is spending $6 billion a month in Iraq a better & more efficient use of resources to keep us safe in the US, as opposed to spending that same money on tightening up security at every US port possible?

How does this Administration's deliberately outing a WsMD expert and her overseas network of double agents make the US SAFER from such an attack on US soil?

Don't feel bad if you can't LOGICALLY answer these questions with a positive spin, as it's obvious President Jr can't either

So again, other than to leave others to once again clean up another one of his messes, what IS President Jr's Iraq plan, and specifics please, not more empty rhetoric the Administration's got down to a fine art


Again, what IS President Jr's Iraq plan?

How is "Victory" defined, realistically?

Is it possible to completely defeat the insurgency with the lack of troops, training & equipment W's inflicted on the US Troops?

How are better organized & more ruthless suicide bombing attacks a sign of a weakening insurgency, or one in it's "last throes"?

How does a strengthening of Iran/Iraq ties further US vital interests in the Middle East?

How do Iraqi women losing long established secular rights at the hands of a newly empowered theocracy further the Inaugural Speech rhetoric of "Standing with the oppressed and against the oppressor"?

How can one support the President when he deliberately sent US troops into battle underequipped with nowhere near enough effective body & vehicle armor?


And then just a smack on President Jr



It's amazing that anyone thinks the public will get behind this President or his foolish, lie-based war again as they were immediately after the invasion was launched

This war, and his own pathetic response to Katrina, have discredited President Jr permanently, they've shown him as an incompetent hack clearly unsuitable to the demands & rigors the Presidency requires, one who puts his personal desires ahead of the national interest, and freezes at the moment competent, strong & decisive leadership is required most

All the spin & badmouthing W throws at others will NOT get the public back on his side

That said, the GOP is about to go through a lot more hell with the ever expanding Abramoff scandal ensnaring politicians, lobbyists, their staffs, and the wives of Congressional Representatives

And with as massively as the GOP is splintering & fracturing, with as rough a time it's had maintaining that famed party discipline, it appears Karl Rove's political capital has been spent right alongside that of W's

Rove's golden touch has turned the GOP's fortunes, and that of his creation, W, to pure lead

I doubt the continuing investigation by Patrick Fitzgerald will make Rove's travails less costly or embarrassing to endure

Just some of the love to be found when it comes to politics