Posted on 12/04/2004 4:56:45 PM PST by O.C. - Old Cracker
Ms. Helen Thomas
To win a date with this beauty,
submit your vital details along
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Back in the days of the Vietnam quagmire, the administrations of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon insisted that they couldn't remove our troops from Southeast Asia because there would be chaos, anarchy and a blood bath.
The result: Johnson and Nixon -- who did not want to go down in history as having lost a war -- stayed the course and kept us in the killing fields.
In the end, more than 58,000 Americans gave their lives, as did hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese. It was a painful, cruel lesson.
The same rationale is being invoked by a U.S. officialdom that insists we have to stay in Iraq to fight the resistance there. Even those opposed to the war now say we can't leave because a catastrophe would ensue if we were to depart.
Well, the slaughter in Iraq continues apace anyway. Our occupation only compounds the horror of it all.
We ferociously destroyed ancient Fallujah to clear it of the Iraqi resistance, as if there were a geographic center for the insurgency that knows no map coordinates.
Casualty figures continue to rise, but the administration that committed the United States to this senseless folly is content to let others pay the price. More than 1,200 Americans have died, thousands more have been wounded. Thousands of Iraqis -- fighters and civilians -- have been killed.
Now comes word that some 400,000 Iraqi children are undernourished and suffering stunting physical and mental problems. The Washington Post recently published a story about GIs in Iraq studying their college courses on their laptops in tents. I wonder if the children in Fallujah or Mosul or Ramadi go to school these days?
It's beyond the courage of the American leadership to admit it was wrong to invade a country under false pretenses and to stay there by force. But at some point, the U.S. leadership may have to 'fess up. This may come when, as veteran war correspondent Chris Hedges put it, "The reality of war is so revolting and horrifying that if we did see war it would be hard for us to wage it."
At a recent White House briefing, I asked press secretary Scott McClellan, "Why are we killing people in Iraq? What is the reason we are there, killing people?"
His answer: "The reason we are there is the same reason the international community is, is united in helping Iraq -- the international community is helping Iraq move forward on a free and peaceful and democratic future."
"There are terrorists and other Saddam loyalists who continue to seek to derail that transition to democracy, but they will not prevail," he added. "And we are there to partner with the Iraqi people as they work to realize a better future, one that stands in stark contrast to the past of Saddam Hussein and his brutal regime."
McClellan did the best he could to create a facade of international support, which doesn't exist in the real world, for the U.S. occupation.
The United States did not invade Iraq out of some great humanitarian compassion to protect the Iraqi people, nor did the administration defend the invasion on those grounds early on. (Remember how Iraq was an imminent threat with weapons of mass destruction targeted to destroy us?) Nor did the Iraqis ask for us to save them from Saddam.
Sorry, McClellan can't rewrite history with his pitch that the international community is behind the United States in Iraq. The major European allies -- except for Britain -- have shied away from this misadventure. Ukraine's parliament voted 257-0 this week to pull the country's 1,600 troops out of Iraq. The vote was non-binding but symbolic of the reality that the Bush administration tries to ignore when it describes the "coalition" that occupies Iraq.
An election may be held in Iraq next month, with a predictable outcome. We will have saved Iraq for the Shiites, the country's majority Muslim sect that has been playing it cool.
To those who warn that it would be inhumane and wrong to leave Iraq soon, I ask: What's so humane about sticking around and killing again and again?
(Helen Thomas can be reached at the e-mail address hthomas@hearstdc.com).
She begins with a slap at the Vietnam veterans and ends with a fresh slap for the Iraq veterans.
In the photo of Ms. Thomas, does her left hand look like a squid?
I wouldn't want to insult a squid by the comparison. Squids are also more intelligent.
She does expel a fair amount of toxic ink.
OUCH, My Eyes!!!
You should get permission from the EPA before posting this.
Of all things sacred and holy, that is an apparition which chills the soul!!! Or in modern terms.... BUTT FUGLY!
Doesn't there have to be a warning in the title before you post a picture like that?
Don't knock it. That photo is replacing defibrillators in hospitals all over the country!
Where is the picture warning???
I want this woman fired ..how best to do it?
Why did I open this thread?
My eyes....my eyes......my eyes..... Oh the pain....
I just like the fact she doesn't get called on by W. And it sits in the back now. Can you imagine doing a presser with that thing staring at you from the front row...
Regards,
Joe
Out of a cannon!
It's really amazing how stupid she is!
"Because Western Civilization is at war with Barbarism, and eventually we shall have to kill them all." I wish I were press secretary and could have given her that answer.
--Boris
I couldn't take it.... she won't read it, but maybe the sponsors I forwarded this letter to will and demand her ugly old windbag ass be retired. See letter;
"Ma'am,
Your article was poorly researched and insulting to me, a man serving my country in the armed services. The imagined chaos of our departure from leaving Vietnam without winning came true; over 1.5 million were killed in the communist "victory" including starvation of supporting villages and outright massacres. This was similar to Saddam's slaughter of the marsh Arabs, which I personally witnessed. Leaving the wealth of Iraq to chaos and Al Zarqawi would be insane. Far worse than pulling stakes and running from Afghanistan and leaving it to the radicals. We only lost 3000 people from that error. On what level will you ever understand we are in a war against evil people who would like nothing better than our slaughter.
I, unlike you, do not work in hyperbole. Saddam was a butcher comparable to Hitler; as a ratio, he killed more of his population than Hitler did. The only thing stopping him from topping Hitler and Stalin was a smaller population. He was a threat to us economically. You've probably forgot, but he did invade Saudi Arabia and threatened the northern oil fields of the Sauds. If unchecked he would gladly do it again, if only to throw chaos on the oil and energy markets. Maybe you say who cares, but when you spend your first winter without heat you will change your mind. He was a threat to us directly and physically by his support of Hezbollah and the PLO, and by firing on the coalition aircraft who were patrolling the Southern and Northern no fly zones. I was in one of those aircraft, and we got shot at every day for doing nothing more than halting his slaughter (at least by air) of the marsh Arabs and the Kurds.
When we defeated Germany, it wasn't until 1951 that we killed or captured all the SS terrorists. They called themselves "werewolves" and would generally ambush a soldier who was alone and slit his throat for maximum terrorist effect. Sound familiar? I will forward the German news articles if you'd like some facts, but I wouldn't want facts to get in the way of a poorly written and researched story. We rebuilt Germany and Japan (remember the Marshall Plan?) and they are now are allies. Once again, don't let history get in the way of your stories. America has faced and overcome hard times. This is difficult, but not impossible. We lost 7000 marines taking Iwo Jima, an island of 12 square miles. Did you write then of a quagmire? If you cannot research your articles better and get some sense of American history before writing this trash it is time for you to retire."
We need to complain to the ones who are promoting her. Sponsors pay attention when a consumer takes the time to compose and mail a letter. Believe me, they take notice even if you never receive a reply.
and this is exactly what happened when we got out. Camboians and south Vietnamese alike were slaughtered because we left, by the millions. Everything Johnson and Nixon said would happen happened but the libs don't want to admit it because they caused it and they never do wrong. Would you please quit posting her picture? It is enough to make a guy puke!
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