Ah, maybe because THAT'S WAR THE WAR IS?
Just a thought.
with virtually no public discussion
ie here's another topic to scream & stomp our communistic feet over.
In their own words, it doesn't get much better than that.
American warplanes have quietly, methodically and with virtually no public discussion been attacking Iraq
Not quite sure why you posted an article that's 5 yrs old?
Since when does the CIC of the US military require or seek approval from political factions and enemy fifth column elements to prosecute a war?
The strikes, including ones as recently as Tuesday, have done nothing to deter Iraqi gunners from firing on American and British planes patrolling the "no flight" zones over northern and southern Iraq. They, like officials in Baghdad, are acting as defiant as ever. And there appears to be no end in sight to the war...
I guess, if you are a liberal, the way to end the war would be by not bombing enemy targets. Excellent strategy! Surrender has worked well for France. We should give it a try.
Here is an AMAZING archive of Iraq Activity from 1992 through the present:
http://www.ccmep.org/usbombingwatch/1999.htm
The other thing this article misses completely is that maintenance of U.S. air bases in Saudi Arabia, which was necessary to contune this "containment" policy toward Iraq, was a MAJOR casus belli for Osama Bin Laden, and featured prominently in both of his fatwas against the U.S. Those bases would have been there indefinitely had Saddam not been removed, and remained a red cape waved in the face of the Islamic extremists. In fact, it is arguable that U.S. forces on Saudi soil were the most important recruiting tool for Al Qaeda. One of the major justifications for an invasion of Iraq and removal of Saddam was to enable us to close those bases, which we did almost immediately. We thereby eliminated one of al Qaeda's favorite complaints and recruiting tools.
A very good friend of mine was the commander of the air wing at Prince Sultan Air Base during this time. He does not have one good word to say about Bill Clinton. He told me that Clinton wasted years and billions of dollars on those air strikes, which did nothing to really hurt Saddam but did give Al Qaeda a huge recruiting tool. He said they were never told to bomb the known terrorist training camps in Iraq either.
This is why we appear to lose the battle so often with the Dems. Many people are too intellectually lazy to peel back more than a single layer on any topic, thought or issue and these people are often the most vocal.
Luckily, more often than we realize, the thoughtful and intelligent often remain relatively silent, but still come out to vote.
Great Find!