Is the Bush plan working?

“Do you think if we hadn't gone to war against Afganistan and left Al Quieda in place that they would not have continued their attacks in America?”

“Afganistan is a different story.

Al Quaeda was a threat, and seems to be gathering strength right now.

(Pssst.....Afganistan is way too big for 14,000 or so troops to handle.)”

“Going into Afghanistan wa a no brainer. It was the first time (at least in my 50 years) that i can remember the country being that unified! Whoever was in charge would have done the same thing, so I can't dole out the term brilliance for that. It was inevitable and had to be done. These cretins are no match for the U.S. militarily and they know it. Why do you think cowardly terrorist acts are the only way they know how to fight? But, they are a patient lot. I wouldn't underestimate them. But, you are right. They accomplished what they wanted on 9/11. I truly believe that just killing Americans was not the whole picture for them. they wanted to upset (and change) our way of life. And they have. So, we re-prioritized to a certain extent, created homeland security, and beefed up security. We don't have our pants down any more.”

“We aren't fighting against the jihad in afganistan. I don't really know what we are doing there these days anyway since it isn't in teh news much, but I would guess we are assisting teh elected government.

We are fighting against the Jihad (as seen by radical muslims) in Iraq. Afganistan was not Al Queida, it was just their headquarters.

I'm sorry if I don't see this great uprising of muslims against the US. Its just a few hate filled radicals (few in comparison to the hundreds of millions of muslims that were mentioned earliers)”

“I raised this issue on another thread and it fell on deaf ears there. At the risk of suffering the same fate here, I will attempt to interject the same issue now.

And that is our American sense of time is very much shorter than the sense of time in these civilizations that go back into antiquity. In the case of Vietnam, the North Vietnamese were fighting to reunify their homeland, as they have done for centuries before the United States was a glint in the eye of Sam Adams.

Same thing here in the Middle East. These people will carry a memory of what they think is a wrong for a long time. Oh, we'll reach a point where we declare victory and go home, and for us the jihad will be over, case closed. But it will not be over for them.

How many tries did it take before Sept. 11 finally got out attention? Attacks on embassies, an attack on the WTC that was less than a stellar success, and the attack on the Cole were all preludes. And I doubt Sept. 11 was the end, although Osama bin Hidin undoubtedly would find another attack anytime soon to outside the realm of possibility.

People keep projecting our way of thinking onto people who think entirely differently and expecting they have it all figured out. They call what ultimately results a rude awakening.

Back in the Nam days, we had all these bright, enterprising young guys who had that all figured out. All we had to do was apply American firepower and it would bring the VC and North Vietnamese to their knees. In that time, we ignored the example of the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. Okay, we didn't get our asses kicked the way the French did, but we lost a hell of a lot of people and in the end the North Vietnamese rolled their tanks all the way south.

They took losses that would stagger most nations. I calculated at one point that if body counts were even close to accurate, we should have wiped out every North Vietnamese male of fighting age. Obviously, the body counts were way high, but the communists absorbed a heavy toll. They waited us out because their sense of time is greater than ours.

The scenario that support for this war could erode is not exactly a far out concept. Consider that troops are being rotated in and out of country, enlistments are down, and a lot of people are already concerned about the way we got into this thing and the fact that it seems to have no end. Guess when and where that scenario played out before.

Bubya said the war on terror would take a long time. If he had limited the effort to the war on terror, and if a concerted effort had been made from the get-go to round up or decapitate the head of al Qaeda, we would be over the hump. Going into Iraq took away from that effort and will have the effect of prolonging the overall war on terror.

The time will come when the American public realizes it was sold a bill of goods and public support turns. If and when that happens, we could find ourselves in a very dangerous time. We need to stop thinking of this in terms of what we think and start looking seriously at the seeds we sow. We could be looking at a century of warfare unless we grasp the reality that how we throw our weight around pisses people off.”

“Now that the gravy train is running it's going to be a hard thing to derail.

There is a select group who likes things the way they are......the money is too good.”

“I think Geo has a good point about the differing time frames. Our enemies are much more patient than we are.

And in the meantime, we have a major flow of funds into China and other countries. We have a growing national debt and an aging infrastructure. We have set up a situation in which our hegemony is eroding. I'm still hoping someone will come in and turn it around, but there could come a time when we could not sustain an adequate effort in Iraq without major economic pain.”

“Everytime I see this thread, I think to myself, "Bush ... Plan?"

It finally occurred to me; it's an oxymoron.”

“I thought Bush had a plan to swindle the country, prop up corporations, drive up oil prices, starve little children, and throw old people out into the cold. You people ( ;) ) confuse me.”

“That plan is in the works.”

“dang it, I'm still confused. s he a stupid little twit who couldn't plan his way out of a wet paper bag, or is he an arch villian with a masterfull plan to rule the business world?”

“hyway, your always confused =)”

“dang it, I'm still confused. s he a stupid little twit who couldn't plan his way out of a wet paper bag, or is he an arch villian with a masterfull plan to rule the business world? - hyway

typical lib reply: Carl Rove does his thinking.

typical con reply: How was he smart enough to hire Carl Rove?

typical lib reply: His daddy hired him.

typical con reply: So his dad is brilliant?

typical lib reply: No, just rich.

typical con reply: How did he get rich?

typical lib reply: Underhanded business practices.

typical con reply: How do you know this?

typical lib reply: Heard it on Al Franken's show.

typical con reply: You listen to that? LOL. So you're the one! LOL

typical lib reply: You wish you were smart enough to listen to Al Franken. The man's a genius. He even wears glasses!

typical con reply: You wear glasses.

typical lib reply: Yeah! 'Cos I'm brilliant!

typical con reply: If you're brilliant, then why do you listen to Al Franken? Shouldn't you have your own show?

typical lib reply: Maybe I will. Don't get into my business. Are you going to read me the Patriot Act now?

typical con reply: Maybe I will.

... and on and on it goes ...”

“Bin Laden, Mullah Omar alive and healthy

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar are safe and healthy, a former Taliban commander said.

Three-and-half years after a US-led military offensive toppled the fundamentalist Taliban regime for sheltering bin Laden, the alleged architect of the 9/11 attacks remains free as does Mullah Omar.

Commander Mullah Akhtar Usmani told private Geo TV in an interview at an undisclosed site that he cannot disclose their whereabouts.

"We hear his voice. I can vouch that Mullah Omar is alive and commanding the Taliban," he said.

As for bin Laden, the most wanted suspect in connection with the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, the former Taliban commander said, "by the grace of God, he is in good health".
[...]”

“That's Islam. Nothing new here.”

“There were several contradictions inherent in the idea that invading Iraq would lead to the formation of stable pro-Western Moslem Democracies.”

“Brilliant.

Before too long, they won't be able to hate us for our freedoms anymore.”

“LOL! That's funny.”

“All this chatter from you guys ... you'd think there might be something wrong with Muslims the way you guys are carrying on.

What do you guys have against Muslims?

Has the left suddenly changed it's position on Islam, or are you guys still ok with Muslims?”

“That's the plan; we'll have a dictator like president and they'll have a president like dictator.”

“I love the smell of sour grapes in the morning.

Smells like victory.”

“HELL YES!

It's working exactly according to plan!

"NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Real wages are not exactly going through the roof.

For the 24-month period through the second quarter of 2005, the inflation-adjusted wages of an average American grew just 1 percent or so, according to statistics reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)."

We're headed right to stagflation! Bush's plan is working perfectly, and don't let anyone tell ya any different!”

“I wonder how much it grew if you took out the top 5% of wage earners? Also, I'd love to see the top 5% of wage earners increase in real wages as compared to the bottom 95%.”

“Gotta have somewhere to spread the Illegals....”

“It's easier to find an illie crossing the thousands of border miles than a building permited employer. Dingding!”

“salebored - Come clean. Why do you talk using idiotic terminology? Trolls often to that because it's a simple way of disguising who they are. Are you somebody's troll? Are you trying to make people think you're crazy, an idiot, or have some super-human language abilities? Why did you say "illie" instead of "illegal alien"? What is your purpose? Do you think it's clever? witty? impressive? What's the deal?”

“Sarge this immigration things not going to end tonight with that speach. So , I'm sure we'll all say a bit more about it. Save time ,illie or illien, take your pick. It's because you don't say it that I do. I am crazy and see right through most peoples ideas of what is. Very few have a clue. By the way, which is easier to find? You know that no one in the gov. has mention a thing about the employers of undocumented guest workers. It's like all I talk about it is an act,because the gov. is all hollywood.”

“



I'm afraid I have to retract my apology from the other day. This lower life form has no idea what language saleboard speaks.”

“It's because you don't say it that I do. I am crazy and see right through most peoples ideas of what is. Very few have a clue.

You know that no one in the gov. has mention a thing about the employers of undocumented guest workers.

Actually salebored - I have said that on here, that we should go after the employers. This isn't about what you say, but how you say it. It's ridiculous.”

“You can pretend you understand-
act like you're from the gov. that'll give you lots of confidence. Good posture is important ,chin up--------THINK.”

“It's a simple question salebored. Why are you evading the question? Just answer it and we'll move on. Why do act like that? Let's not make this a big deal. Just give us the story and we can move on.

Are you afraid to tell us because you'll feel silly? Is it because the reason is just so ridiculous, you can't bring yourself to answer?
last edited: 5/15/06 6:19:01 PM”

“I'm not the making the big deal. I post and you want to write a novel about it. Say what you want and don't read mine.Go read about the 6000 graduate boyscouts that will spend their 2 week vacation on the border. Read a little more about the next hollywood border production. It just occured to me that you always ask questions that have answers so obvious reply is unecessary. Anyway, I've learned alot from you and about you that couldn't be done with just hello-goodbye.”

“It just occured to me that you always ask questions that have answers so obvious reply is unecessary.

That's a convenient way of avoiding the question. You're fooling nobody, except perhaps yourself, but I doubt it. You know where you are - in a corner. You're the deer with the headlights in his eyes. You're the dude on cops who runs home and pretends like he's been sleeping the whole time. You're like "Wha? What's going on? I was sleeping." ... as they pull the covers off and you are in your black jeans and muddy boots still.

I'll let you go salebored. Let it be known from now on, though, even if it goes unsaid, that we're on to you.”

“You are hollllywood aren't you? Doctor ,go back and talk about coathanger medicine.”

“just let it go, ham ... hamlet it go ...”

“a nation without borders is not a nation”

“deep”

“pitts - I think somebody has taken over your username in the last 2 weeks. Please advise Matt immediately!”

“The Bush plan was sinking -I bailed it out.”