[wideawake]

George Bush's strategy impoverished the nation,

You have got to be kidding me.

We spend more per year on Medicare and Medicaid fraud than we spent on the war effort. Spending which, unlike fraud, directly created jobs.

weakened us militarily,

Now I know you're joking. As one field officer I know told me: "you could spend a trillion dollars on training and not recreate the expertise gained by every officer and noncom in the Armed Forces from this war."

The US now has the most battled-hardened and technically advanced cadre of soldiers on this planet.

aroused Islam against us,

Really? "Islam" wasn't already mad at us? Was 9/11 a love tap?

Give me a break.

failed ultimately to make America safer from terrorist strikes,

Out of 300 million Americans, how many have been killed by terrorist attacks on our soil in the past twelve years? Hint: you probably have enough fingers to count them.

and left us weaker economically,

Sure, it was the war that created the housing bubble, right?

diplomatically,

Brilliant observation. as we've learned this week, other countries really respect weakness and vacillation - not power and self-assertion.

and, worse, morally.

Says the man who idolizes an individual who bought and sold people for cash and produce.

I can read all this bankrupt rhetoric at CounterPunch or Huffington Post. Why repost it here?

BTW, what is your problem with Israel, exactly? Are you associated with your idol's fraternal organization?

[nathanbedford]

I will not respond to your snarkiness except to refer you to my about page.

[ek_hornbeck]

Says the man who idolizes an individual who bought and sold people for cash and produce.

I can read all this bankrupt rhetoric at CounterPunch or Huffington Post.

You do realize that CounterPunch and Huffington Post would say precisely the sames things about Nathan Bedford Forrest and the Confederacy as you do. So playing the "you agree with the liberals" card really cuts both ways.

[ek_hornbeck]

Spending which, unlike fraud, directly created jobs.

The whole "war is good for the economy" line is a Keynesian lie. It benefits certain sectors of the economy which rely on military contracts, while draining resources from the rest of the economy. If what you say were true, our 10 years in Iraq and Afghanistan would have ushered in an era of unprecedented economic prosperity. That's not exactly how it turned out.

Out of 300 million Americans, how many have been killed by terrorist attacks on our soil in the past twelve years? Hint: you probably have enough fingers to count them.

This whole "our wars kept us safe from terrorism at home" line reminds me a bit of the rooster who thought that his crowing in the morning made the sun rise. We haven't had any massive comets strike the Earth during that time either, so I suppose that our decade in Iraq and Afghanistan kept us safe from another comet strike too.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

We spend more per year on Medicare and Medicaid fraud than we spent on the war.

Hardly. The total cost for our post-9/11 wars, including indirect costs like medical care for veterans, is 3 to 4 trillion dollars. The total Medicare/Medicaid budget annually is a bit less than 800 billion, with fraud being maybe ten percent of that.