...Or would you rather wait until it's "outside your front door?"

Ramblings' Journal / Project 21 ^ | 5.11.04 | Michael King

[Flyer]

Just venting a bit. Very uncivilized of me, I confess.

Hey, I had to call in the carpenter today to expand my vent.

[get'emall]

I'm afraid the gloves won't come off until there is another MAJOR attack on our soil. Too many of us have forgotten how this whole thing started and not enough of us realize the stakes of the game. Time to pick sides, people.

[Christian4Bush]

"I wonder if we actual might do the Iraqis a disservice by not letting them struggle it out for themselves. If we ensured that they as a country could not harm us, maybe we could back off a little, let them struggle through the birth of their new country and let them have native leaders arise and preach the principles of freedom and good government."

Good points, all. As for the timing of it, I don't know, nor am I qualified to guess. Thank you for your post, it was very informative.

[some guy in the mountains]

Time will tell. Specifically the July deadline for Iraqi sovereignty. As long as we adhere to that policy, it will be up to the Iraqi people to take charge of their affairs.

Not according to to this NewsDay article. There's no legislative branch. The government will just be administrative, still controlled by the US. Doesn't really sound like sovereignty.

[IoCaster]

Oh my.

There is ABSOLUTELY no congruence between what the Iraqi's idea of freedom may be and ours.

Hint, start with women.

Oh, puhleeze!!

The Nineteenth Amendment wasn't ratified until August 18, 1920. It took the USA 140 years to give women the right to vote. Who are you kidding?

[4everontheRight]

I agree...I think one is coming. My timeline would be an attack close enough to the election where Bush gets blamed, far enough away to calm the anger and close enough to the election for the US media to criticize Bush right out of office.

[Zack Nguyen]

I'm asking how us continuing to abuse\mistreat\torture prisoners would prevent or not prevent stuff like this from happening again.

I don't think that one has anything to do with the other. The abuse of prisoners is un-American and should be punished, and it will be. It's not military policy. Al Qaeda/Al Zawahiri is sworn to murder Americans at every opportunity anyway. This prison business is just a useful propaganda tool.

[Quix]

AMEN!

THANKS.

[Zack Nguyen]

Similarly, for the Iraqis, can we return sovereignty to them? Do we have to control them to keep them in place? If so, why does freedom work here but not there?

Our democracy works because, first and foremost, we self-govern, a product of our Judeo-Christian heritage. Whether democracy can work with a radicalized population is still up in the air at this time. Turkey is an Islamic country without an Islamic state. Perhaps it can be done.

But fundamentally, Islam does not believe in the inherent worth of every person, which is a pre-requisite for democracy.

[IoCaster]

Don't really care what Newsday prints or alludes to. The Iraqis from that point on are responsible for the political decisions that they make. We'll have to tread cautiously from that point on, but it will be an advisory role regardless.

[some guy in the mountains]

Don't really care what Newsday prints or alludes to.

I would think so, especially when they quote Colin Powell, and Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN envoy. How strange that you wouldn't want to read what they said.

[LauraJean]

You it right on the money Michael. The libbies keep nattering about the stupid pictures. They are the ones that believe in moral relativity. They are the ones that believe if it feels good do it. They are the ones who believe in social promotion of army generals. And they are ones who believe just because some bonehead put a pair of panties on a prisoner (who was probably a killer and rapist) it is the equavalant of beheading a man who was only there to help Iraq build their country up. These stupid people would be the first to help the Islamofascists if they invaded here. Then they would wonder why they were being killed along with other Americans.

[some guy in the mountains]

Whether democracy can work with a radicalized population is still up in the air at this time... But fundamentally, Islam does not believe in the inherent worth of every person, which is a pre-requisite for democracy.

Ok, this gets back to my original question: will Iraq always be a police state? If they can't correctly govern themselves, then I guess we must always rule them.

[VOA]

bump

[some guy in the mountains]

The Iraqis from that point on are responsible for the political decisions that they make

How can they be responsible for their political decisons when they can't create their own laws? They can only be responsible for how well they obey the laws we give them.

[B.O. Plenty]

I realize the stakes here....no more than our way of life is at stake. I wish I could say something or do something that would persuade the President to wage WAR. But....alas....those who are in charge think they are so much smarter and shine brighter than us down here will, if things don't change pretty soon, doom our lovely daughters and grandaughters to a life of ignorance, walking around looking like a dirty tent. It can happen....

If anybody is peeking in from the White House at what we here in FR are saying.....TELL THE PRESIDENT TO WAGE TOTAL WAR ON RADICAL ISLAM. Do it now...before radical Islam gets what they want...some horrible WMD...to kill 100's of thousands of Americans at one time.

[some guy in the mountains]

It is time to strike out some people and I'd hate to go it alone. The list is long.

Ah, a great purge. Maybe they should have special symbols by their names so you know who to trust, and who to not trust.

[Indie]

Spread that jello on the floor and start the sofa on fire!!!!
One of my fav Cosby routines and a damn good post Michael. As always, a reservoir of intelligence and common sense!
~Indie