Bush making America safer in the future

“CAIRO, Egypt -- Thousands of Arabs seething with anger at the U.S.-led bombing of Iraq protested for a third day on Saturday, amid concern the demonstrations could threaten stability in the volatile region.

In Egypt, the region's most populous country with almost 70 million people, thousands of students staged anti-war rallies at universities amid tight police security.

On Friday, thousands of riot police moved from street to street in Cairo, racing against a wave of angry anti-war protesters headed to the U.S. Embassy and the Arab League headquarters.

Police cordoned off most of the central area of the city, turning the main centers of the usually busy city into a virtual ghost town.

The protesters, numbering in the tens of thousands, pelted police with rocks and vowed to burn down the U.S. Embassy and kick out the ambassador. Police, flanked by dogs, responded by firing water cannons.

Plainclothes police carrying wooden or metal batons were seen beating several protesters. A number of police and protesters were injured.

The crowd condemned Arab governments for "cowardice" for not taking a stand against the war in Iraq.

In the conservative Gulf Arab sultanate of Oman, where protests are rare, hundreds of demonstrators gathered Saturday chanting: "Bush and Blair are war criminals," and "Stop the war now!"

In Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, protests also continued, and the U.S. embassy stayed closed Saturday after hundreds scuffled with police outside the fortified building.

Police in Yemen's capital, San'a, opened fire on antiwar protesters Friday, killing four, witnesses said.

The police began shooting after tear gas failed to disperse a crowd of about 2,000 people who gathered around the U.S. Embassy after Friday prayers to demonstrate against the war. Protests were reported in other Yemeni cities as well.

In Amman, Jordan, police used tear gas against more than 10,000 people demonstrating against the war in a rally led by the Muslim Brotherhood. The group pledged to fight the United States and support the war in Iraq.

Protests also were reported in Beirut, Lebanon, where crowds gathered in front of the Kuwaiti, Qatari, U.S., and British embassies.

From the West Bank in Gaza, television coverage showed thousands of Palestinians, including numerous political figures, demonstrating in support of the Iraqi people.

Amr Moussa, the head of the 22-member Arab League, said "no Arab with any remnant of conscience can tolerate" the bombing of

"The bombing and violence we're seeing on satellite TV should stir the ire of every Arab who sees it," said the secretary-general, who has warned a war against Iraq could "open the gates of hell" in the Middle East.

-- CNN Correspondent Caroline Faraj contributed to this report.

We'll win this, it's no contest ... but the final outcome is not going to be a good one for us in the international community, the world is going to stop buying from the US. The US ecomomy will be stymied.”

“Meanwhile, BILLIONS of people around the world did not protest the war.”

“Silence is now encouragement?”

“The squeeky wheel gets the oil? A very small minority are protesting this war.”

“As with anything.

When's the last time you looked at the percentage of registered voters who actually vote? Does this mean these people have no opinion?

It takes an earthquake to get most people off their couch.”

“Oh, and by the way, a very small percentage of the worlds population are terrorists.

Think about it.”

“But they kill the silent minority. Think about it.”

“minority = majority”

“Bush is making the world a safer place!”

“By making more terrorists.”

“Notice how those protestors forgot about Sodomy's "rape rooms", the gassing of his OWN people, and how he can't produce proof of the destruction of his WMDs (which he admitted he had over 10 years ago (which btw, the U.S sold to them)).”

“World peace starts with "Dubya"”

“That's the justifaction for war? That's why we invaded Iraq?”

“The road to hell is paved with anti-war protesters.”

“Partly. And I forgot about the two Iraqi tankers (cargo ships) that were sneaking around, in international waters half a year back....who knows what kind of chemical or biological weapons/stuff they were transporting to potential terrorists. I don't remember the whole story on that one.”

“There’s something in all this that has me wondering. During the election of 2000 we kept hearing from the right that the Clinton administration had let our military go to hell, but during the military build up for war with Iraq and now that war has begun we keep hearing how vastly improved our military capabilities are since the last gulf war and since most of the time between the wars were the Clinton years I would think that our military capabilities would be inferior today then during the last gulf war, so this has me wondering, was it a lie that Clinton let our military go to hell or is it a lie that our capabilities are better now than during the last gulf war.”

“Okay, so from here on out, speculation is cause for a pre-emptive invasion of a country.

You heard it here first.”

“Good question, must hike.”

“War criminals are people too.”

“That post will probably bring a negative response from people on the right, calling me a Clintonite, which I am not and this question was not meant to bash anybody. I just thought it would pose an interesting question for a reporter to ask at a White House press conference.”

“And would you expect anything but propoganda to accompany the answer to such a question, regardless of who was in office?”

“I think so too, Must Hike, but we know it will never happen.

And we already know the answer.”

“Most of Clinton's cut-backs had to do with bases and actual number of soldier on active duty. The amount of federal spending on the Army actually went up by a few hundred million over the same time spand. Most of the federal increase was sunk into R&D and improving living conditions for soldiers. We saw some pay increases, but they really didnt kick in until Bush became president. You can find these statistics in the Soldier's Almanac. Its a magazine put out by the DOD.”

“Thickenergy, you are correct lying knows no political boundary. Both parties are equally disgusting in their abilities at lying. It isn’t about party. It’s about watching someone at the podium squirming around trying to come up with an answer.”

“Your question is easy to answer. They were talking about the morale of the troops under Klinton. He had cut the military down to the bear bones. Some did not have enough bullets to train with. Our capabilities did not suffer though. Military technology was given highest priority even though the budget was low and the troops were spread thin.

After 9/11 bullet and bomb makers went into high gear and worked tons of overtime to make sure the military had what they needed to fight and win.”

“The Bush Administration has spent the last two years rebuilding our military. Iy was a good point, though. Maybe that's why Clinton didn't have the stones to go after this jerk.
Phaedrus, with Iraqi troops shooting their own officers, and crowds greeting our troops in the streets, I would think you might want to give it a rest.”

“I feel weird about agreeing with a man whos name contains "Pecker", but he's right, that were most of the spending went. When I was stationed in New Mexico, we did alot of R&D on missile systems. When everyone else was getting cut backs, our buget kept growing.”

“Dare, what unit are you with?”

“Hey jj, did you ever see me say we would lose this conflict, or that Saddam's regime was loved?

No.

So I should change my mind about what I see as the consequences of our actions because things are going along an easy path on the battlefield?”

“Yes, it's never so dire as the opposite party's ads proclaim, is it?

I always enjoy Bruce Morton's reports on CNN analyzing what accusations are true, false or simply exagerated. Too bad they didn't get more air-time last time... maybe we can hope for more in the next cycle.”

“ULTRAPecker were you in the military during that time? It’s easy to find out how much and on what money for the military is spent on, but moral is another issue, that one is harder to quantify, I’ve heard it said that morale was bad but for me it’s something that only carries weight when it comes from the actual soldiers. That’s not something I can take at face value from a politician, to easy to lie about and not get caught. Dare it sounds like you are in the military, I would like to here your comments about morale under Clinton.”

“It is truely funny how people will follow a little fool over the dam.”

“U.S. Army 1989-1992 and National Guard 1992-1996.

We ALL hated Klinton. Draft dodgeing pot smoking lying socialist. Klinton was the commander and chief. He made the entire military look and feel bad. Klinton loathed the military and we loathed him.”

“Hmm. I voted for him while in the military when he defeated Bush sr.

So not all of us hated him.”

“Don't ask, don't tell?”

“With a name like "ULTRAPecker" you can ask a question like that???

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL”

“Yeah, that was a letdown. I'd rather have seen Clinton, as commander in chief, just do away with the homosexuality rules in the military altogether.

Ah well.”

“HUMAN SHIELDS WANTED - No experience necessary.”

“See, with most trolls, the non-sequitur ends up at least being funny. Not with this one, though.”

“No sense of humor Phaedy?


I crack myself up!!!”

“I've got a pretty good sense of humor!





You're just not funny.”

“I'm shocked and deeply hurt by that comment.















OK, I'm over it now.”

“And you're ugly too.














Part of my shock and awe campaign”

“Now that's funny!!!”

“I still want that cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake, foohs!”

“Get in line, kleetn. I'm still waiting on my apple pie.”

“Has anyone here ever heard of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge? How about the military junta that now rules Myanmar? Where in the Hell is Myanmar, you ask? How about Jakarta?

For that matter, what of the genecide committed by China in Tibet for the last fifty years? Does anyone here care about the civil wars in West Africa?

The short answer - NO. Why? Because (except in the case of China), none of these regions have any resources that people like George I and George II or Dick "Haliburton" Cheney give a damn about. As for China, we can't risk upsetting THAT market now, can we?

The current sacking of Iraq has NOTHING to do with "humanitarian efforts." If it did, then we'd be "policing" places like Myanmar as well.

I know there's nothing I can say to convice the right-wing faction on this board that they're being "played" by their own leadership (who couldn't give a DAMN about any of us, including their own middle-class conservative support), but these same people should remember that those of us who are not fooled by Bush II are not some little minority - we actually outnumber Bush II's support base. If Bush the Second doesn't do something SOON about the terrible mess he's made of things back home, even Br'er Jeb won't be able to fix the election for him in 2004!”

“AND FOREST SCORES!”

“Thursday, March 13 12:01 AM EST

France Demands Return of the Statue of Liberty

By Brian Briggs

Paris - France has invoked a long forgotten clause to demand that the Statue of Liberty be returned.

The people of France sent Lady Liberty as a gift to the people of the United States in 1886, but the recent row between the countries over Iraq has them rethinking their present. A graduate student in history, Jean Renault, at the École Centrale Paris uncovered a document which gives France the right to recall the gift under certain conditions.

"It says right here," said Renault pointing to the aged document, "that if America drops below a certain level on the Franklin Scale (an international measure of a country's liberty and freedoms) that France can demand the statue back."

Jacques Chirac glowed with excitement at the discovery. "Finally, the Americans will feel the wrath of the French. We plan on putting the statue in Eurodisney, or giving it to a more freedom-loving country like North Korea."

Chirac also warned that if the statue is not returned that France would "vigorously enforce its patent on French Fries, and send all its good red wine to Germany." Economists believe such moves would cripple an already weak American economy.

The news infuriated many Americans. Karl Cabot of Waukesha, Wisconsin said, "You know I sorta remember reading about a clause like that before, but I say screw the Frenchies. The statue should stay in Washington D.C. where it belongs!"

President Bush vehemently opposed the request. "America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. It says so in our constitution. God bless America."

A recent poll showed that Americans favored renaming the statue to the Statue of Quasi-Liberty, or The Torch Lady in order to keep the monument in New York harbor.”

“Are you asking or telling?”