You want to know the real irony? Iraq was ruled by an insane tyrant, who had WMD's, used them (on his own people) and bleeding heart liberals like yourself are upset that we got him out of power. That's the real irony of it.

So, what are they then? According to most, these are considered biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction. Sure, they aren't a huge stockpile, but they are evidence that more may exist (which, by the way, most liberals before this were saying that nothing at all existed).

No more stupid than the person who says that Saddam complied with the UN and willingly gave up his WMD's.

Well thank you very much! We are in favor of overthrowing an evil dictator who killed up to one million of his own people, and WE are called ill-bred pukes, who act against ALL humanity.

In all seriousness, stop the name-calling. You are above that. This is not a message board intended for kindergarteners, so act that way.

No. War is always a tough thing to justify. I don't ever like seeing men die, but the fact remains that if men didn't die for this country, this country wouldn't exist. Period. We acted in our best interest, and if you disagree with that, fine. But do so respecfully. Your tone borders on hatred, and that is a scary thing my friend.

Again, name-calling is a very juvenile response to conflict. Next time try to express your thoughts without being so divisive. You may actually persuade someone to think as you do.

I am just as American as you are. Don't you ever question other's patriotism like that, it is insulting. I don't question your patriotism, nor your humanity, yet you question mine without knowing me. I don't take it personally, but I am ashamed that you would be so quick to insult people who disagree with you. And you do so in a very immature, and divisive way. I am not going to react harshly to your insinuations because I know that is exactly what you are looking for. Instead, I will only ask you to think about these things next time you post. Think about what you are trying to accomplish, and what the best way to do this would be. I think you may find that your methods need to be revised next time.

As to where I came from, I can't speak for others, but I came from my mother's uterus, making it a bit difficult for me to go back.....

I take a few days off and come back to Mark throwing a temper tantrum.

Some things never change.


Good to be back though. I guess the "NO WMD's have been found" argument has been put to rest then?

__________________
"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)

anti-American, unAmerican, it all fits for him. Whenever he doesn't get his way he stomps his feet like a child and throws a tantrum and tells everyone how stupid they are. He must be French.

Honey I really REALLY hope you meant that as sarcasm.

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Didja all see the Faux News people falling ALL over themselves declaring WMD HAS BEEN FOUND - -our boy 'w' was right?


Oh god it was DE-lish!!!!!

Then Monday didja catch all the other media outlets taking pokes - making fun of - the eeejits on Faux News?

Even MORE FUN!!!!


One example:as I was clicking around I stopped at "Imus in the morning" on MSNBC and the bald-headed guy that's not Sid - the other one - quipped "they were all having big 'O's over there at Fox". They all laughed and laughed......me too.

(FYI: the 'o' stands for a word very close to "organism" - - get it?)

__________________
"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)

I really really didn't.

Age is irrelavant to a WMD. .The torture by saddam was real, the alqaeda link was made so on so forth. The reasons were and are sound. Some info was wrong but the larger picture wa correct.

One of those shells detinated in a subway will make a thousand lives worth it.

You are not looking close.http://chrenkoff.blogspot.com/2004_0...93214609755777

Good news from Iraq - bet you didn't know there was any?
(Update: A very warm thank you to Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Reynolds for their support and publicity)

Prisoner abuse, Shia uprising, prisoner abuse, Fallujah, prisoner abuse, lost heart and minds, prisoner abuse... Oh, did I mention prisoner abuse?

The news from Iraq has been consistently bad for two month now, with one "quagmire" after another cheering up the media, the left and the "Arab street", and depressing the hell out of most conservatives.

So, for a change, here's some good news from Iraq that you might have missed (I don't know how that could have happened):

DEMOCRACY TAKES ROOT: Democracy is spreading - from the ground up, as it should: "In the province of Dhi Qar, about 230 miles southeast of Baghdad and a backwater even by Iraq's standards, residents voting as families will have elected city councils in 16 of the 20 biggest cities by next month."

And in Baghdad, "American authorities created nine district councils... with representatives sent by 88 neighborhood advisory councils. The district councils, in turn, sent representatives to the Baghdad City Advisory Council to work with the American administration." "Every day the evidence is a little stronger that the council members understand the benefits of this system, and we even see signs out in the community of it catching on."

Meanwhile, a Western PR firm, with Arab partners, tackles the world's toughest ad campaign - selling democracy to Iraqis accustomed to life under a dictatorship.

HEALTHIER, WEALTHIER AND WISER: "[M]y salary was about 17 US$ before the war. Shortly after the war it was raised to 120 US$. Three months after that, they made it 150 US$. Two months later it became 200$... [and] from the next month... [it] will be around 300 US$" - read the whole extensive piece on salaries, unemployment, and the standard of living. It makes a fascinating living.

And there's also good news for retired government employees, who are finally getting decent pensions. And the 80,000 needy families, who are being taken care of by the Iraqi Minister of Labour and Public Affairs (with 300,000 more by the year's end). According to the Minister, Sami Azara Al Majoon: "We have rehabilitated the orphanages, the centres for the handicapped and special needs institutions in Iraq, as well as the institutions for the deaf and blind. Work is on to accommodate all the homeless and orphaned children and ensure the needs of the handicapped. In addition, we have opened 28 offices for the ministry in different parts of the country to accept applications of Iraqi citizens in search of employment and job training."

Meanwhile, on the education front, "more than five million Iraqi students are back in school and more than 51 million new Ba'ath-free textbooks are in circulation." And Iraqi universities are experiencing a brain drain in reverse, as many of the thousands of academics forced into exile under Saddam are coming back to teach the next generation of students.

And in health, "some 100,000 healthcare professionals working in 240 re-opened hospitals and 1,200 clinics." The health system has to be rebuilt almost from scratch: "[it] was 'already badly run down' due to previous wars, sanctions, drastically reduced spending - some estimates suggest the Iraqi health budget was cut by 90 per cent during the 1990s - as well as an inequitable health treatment policy."

SPIRITS REVIVE: "In a stunning upset victory, the Iraq national football team defeated Saudi Arabia tonight 3 to 1 to earn a trip to the 2004 Olympic Summer games in Athens." It's the first time in Iraq's history that Iraqi football team will compete in the Olympics. Better still, while the victory over Saudi Arabia was played at a stadium once used by Saddam as an outdoor torture chamber, Iraqi soccer player know that if they fail in the future they won't be tortured by Uday Hussein.

Other areas of life previously suppressed are experiencing cultural revival - like traditional Kurdish music. "Before, Arab music was the most popular, but now even the latest albums aren't selling... Many more people are buying Kurdish music," says Niyaz Zangana, who runs the popular Zang record store in Arbil.

Not just Kurds, but also Marsh Arabs, whose homeland was destroyed by Saddam as collective punishment for rebellion, are reviving. With the marshes being reflooded and ecosystem restored, the ancient culture is returning to the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

THE RECONSTRUCTION: "Iraqi crude oil sales since last year's U.S.-led invasion hit more than $9 billion... The Coalition Provisional Authority had deposited a total of $9.28 billion in its Development Fund for Iraq."

"Some 20,000 contractors are doing business in the country with relatively few security problems... Most are sharing in the $18.4 billion that has been allocated by the U.S. government to rebuild roads, public utilities, schools, housing and other parts of the Iraq economy."

John Roberts, a contracting officer with the Army Corps of Engineers, says: "Saddam Hussein used power as a reward and punishment... Power's important to us (Americans) because we see power as relating to the people." While the Army Corps of Engineers has been mostly restoring oil infrastructure, it is also "creating and improving ports, airports, roads, bridges, schools and health clinics. The corps has replaced more than 700 electrical towers throughout Iraq, Roberts said. The goal is to restore 6,000 megawatts to the national grid by June 1. About 4,500 megawatts are currently on the national grid."

In fact, overall "about 2,200 different [reconstruction] projects worth around US$2.5 billion were under way, with 18,000 already completed. Targets had been met with oil production, which was back to 2.3 million barrels a day, clean drinking water and power."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce welcomes the establishment of an American Chamber of Commerce in Iraq -- "AmCham for short."

And while the big guys work on the big stuff, a lot of private charity work is going on under the radar, be it donations of toys for Iraqi children, helping with supplies and equipment for Iraqi schools, or this latest appeal: "In response to a request from the U.S. 1st Marine Division, Spirit of America donated 10,000 school supply kits, 3 tons of medical supplies and 2 tons of Frisbees printed with 'Friendship' in English and Arabic. These items will be given to Iraqis by the Marines as gifts of friendship from the American people."

THE SECURITY SITUATION: Fallujah is revolting and al-Sadr is stirring trouble in the Shia south, but the Kurd-controlled areas are going so well that you never hear anything about them: "American soldiers based here don't have to call in air strikes against foreign fighters or exchange gunfire with Baathist loyalists. Nor do they live in mortal fear of deadly IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, along the roadsides. In fact, says one soldier who travels in this area, 'I always see the thumbs up, and little kids offer us candies'."

Speaking of Fallujah, the US-appointed retired major-general, Mohammed Abdul-Latif, seems to be having a calming effect on the locals: "We can make [the US] use their rifles against us or we can make them build our country, it's your choice," he has told "a gathering of more than 40 sheikhs, city council members and imams in an eastern Fallujah suburb... As he spoke, many sheikhs nodded in approval and listened with reverence. Later, they clasped his hands and patted him on the back."

Elsewhere, "Accused of being collaborators with American occupation forces, Iraqi policemen, guards, and soldiers have endured ridicule, threats, and targeted violence that have left hundreds dead over the past year. But there are signs that hard-nosed attitudes toward the country's embattled, US-trained security forces are beginning to soften."

THE REAL PRISONER ABUSE: The story of nine Iraqis sent to Abu Ghraib prison on flimsy charges, tortured, mutilated and filmed for amusement. By Saddam Hussein. The nine men in question had their hands chopped off; now Americans are giving them new ones.

THE MIDDLE EASTERN DOMINOES: "We went to the Arab countries and said, 'Look, you need to come together with a blueprint for Arab reform. If you do not articulate such a blueprint, one may be forced upon you.' We in Jordan are in the clear: We have our plans and are not using regional problems as an excuse. We are moving forward, as are some of the other moderate countries. But the rest of you, 'Wake up!' The Middle East is changing. If you don't get that process going, one will be forced on you." - King Abdullah of Jordan in an interview with "Washington Post".

Had enough? Now back to prisoner abuse, al-Sadr, terrorism, prisoner abuse...

the resolutions were enough. There were other reasons but thats all it took

A couple of ANTIQUE artillery shells do not make for mass destruction. They were not a threat to America's national security, and they constitute a pretty lousy pathetic attempt by desperate Repukers to coorborate all the lies told by the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Powell morons in the White House.

Oh, wait, maybe Repukers can once again deflect attention from Bush's disasterous movie debut in "Dude, Where's My Iraqis Cheering the Liberators?" and its sequel, "Mission: Unaccomplished" by telling us once again of all the people who believed Iraq had WMD (but of course none of them actually went to war nor were they the cause of the deaths of over 750 American soldiers and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis like Bush).

But Repukes are just addicted to "yeah Bush is a moron but we can always blame it on Clinton" mentality. It's really kind of sad -- I get that way whenever I see a deformed puppy, a severely retarded child or a Republican coming to terms with the fact that they HAVE to support Bush. lol

This situation with the Sarin and Mustard gas shells is so incredibly inconsequential. George Dubya Bush and his idiot brigade painted a picture that was not a couple of antiquated shells.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_...ct_2002.htm#03

I am amazed that after we march into Iraq and blow it to hell that the people with the tanks, missiles, aircraft, etc. should be standing around saying, “Yup, we got them weapons o’ mass destruction,” while they stare at 2 or 10 or 50 old shells. How idiotic.

There are hundreds of dead soldiers, thousands wounded and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead -- for a couple of shells? What kind of boobs are you?

I am VERY American. I believe that America should NOT tolerate a Commander in Chief that misleads its citizens; I believe in what America stands for, Freedom: To speak out without being arrested or put into a “protest zone”; to be able to remain innocent until proven guilty and have a lawyer represent the accused in court; to live in a country that ELECTS its president, and all those things that THIS administration aims to squash.

And most importantly, I believe in an America that PROTECTS innocents, that stands up for those who cannot standup for themselves – not a country that shoots women and children, tortures innocent prisoners to create an army of spies and plays the game as dirty as the terrorists that IT created.

The America for which these soldiers die is what Dubya Bush is taking from our nation.

Obviously I have a difference of opinion with the Neocons.

__________________
"What does a former president's son know about the Iraq war anyway?"
-- GW Bush when asked about Ron Reagan's negative comments, 6/25/2004.
www.BushZombie.com