Runsfeld Clears Things Up

[Zeno]

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Rumsfeld said on ABC's "This Week."


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You should be watching football games instead of silly news programs.

Rumsfeld should garner a few 'Newspeak' awards I would think.



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Just when one thinks nothing this administration does or says could top what happened the day before, it yields this.


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And today this: [ QUOTE ]

Bush Lowers Temperature of Iraq War Debate


By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent
2 hours ago



BEIJING - After fiercely defending his Iraq policy across Asia, President Bush abruptly toned down his attack on war critics Sunday and said there was nothing unpatriotic about opposing his strategy.



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How sweet it is.

-Zeno

[Myrtle]

If we're going to have anything that resembles a debate about the war in Iraq, let's start at the beginning......

Did we, or did we not, launch an unprovoked attack on a sovereign country?

[MMMMMM]

[ QUOTE ]
If we're going to have anything that resembles a debate about the war in Iraq, let's start at the beginning......

Did we, or did we not, launch an unprovoked attack on a sovereign country?


[/ QUOTE ]

Whether or not it was justifiable may be debated, but it was far from "unprovoked".

[Myrtle]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If we're going to have anything that resembles a debate about the war in Iraq, let's start at the beginning......

Did we, or did we not, launch an unprovoked attack on a sovereign country?


[/ QUOTE ]

Whether or not it was justifiable may be debated, but it was far from "unprovoked".

[/ QUOTE ]

OK.......Let's get a bit more specific:

Let's define & discuss what the provocation(s) were.

I'm guessing that the word 'justifiable' will rear it's head somewhere in this discussion.........

[MMMMMM]

Quickly, to list a few provocations:

-firing daily on US planes in no-fly zones

-many years of defying/obstructing/delaying U.N. resolutions and inspections

-purportedly having attempted to have Bush #1 assassinated

-encouraging and helping fuel the cottage industry of Palestinian suicide-bombing with 50K payments to families of suicide-bombers

[Myrtle]

[ QUOTE ]
Quickly, to list a few provocations:

-firing daily on US planes in no-fly zones

-many years of defying/obstructing/delaying U.N. resolutions and inspections

-purportedly having attempted to have Bush #1 assassinated

-encouraging and helping fuel the cottage industry of Palestinian suicide-bombing with 50K payments to families of suicide-bombers

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OK....Please explain how any of the above merits a full-scale military invasion of Iraq?

[BadBoyBenny]

Like M said you can debate the merits but you can't really say that this does not add up to provocation.

[John Cole]

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many years of defying/obstructing/delaying U.N. resolutions and inspections

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M, please, not the UN. We really don't care about UN resolutions, do we?

[MMMMMM]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
many years of defying/obstructing/delaying U.N. resolutions and inspections



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M, please, not the UN. We really don't care about UN resolutions, do we?


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Good point, John, haha;-) However, seeing as the U.N. resolutions regarding Iraq were in large part aligned with our own wishes, as well as with the terms of the cease-fire agreement, I think we do (and should) care.

[cdxx]

[ QUOTE ]
Quickly, to list a few provocations:

-firing daily on US planes in no-fly zones

-many years of defying/obstructing/delaying U.N. resolutions and inspections

-purportedly having attempted to have Bush #1 assassinated

-encouraging and helping fuel the cottage industry of Palestinian suicide-bombing with 50K payments to families of suicide-bombers

[/ QUOTE ]

first, a comment on the OP. rumsfeld's answers were ridiculous. i don't think he answered a single thing. i felt bad for the general who was with him. he at least tried to make a case for something, not useless rhetoric.

secondly, if a US plane is in a no-fly zone, aren't they breaking a treaty themselves? if an iraq plane showed up in a no-fly zone over DC, they would just fire at it. they'd blow it up four times before it hits the ground.

sure, iraq ignored UN resolutions, kicked out inspectors. it warrants action against iraq, perhaps even a full invasion, but the deaths of thousands of soldiers and civilians, together with the actual cost of the war suggests a harder diplomatic effort was in order.

US planned, tried, and successfully assasinated many different foreign leaders, many of those were democratically elected. a purported plot to assasinate bush #1 is the case for tougher security around the president, not invasion of iraq.

the biggest surporter of palestinian terrorist movement (freedom fighters my ass) was probably not sadaam. it is probably extreme factions in saudi arabia and iran. i can't back that up with facts, but i will stand corrected if you can prove the opposite.