Posted on 01/06/2020 8:22:14 PM PST by Zhang Fei
They threatened Trump properties.
Aren’t those cultural sites?
“* WWII cost 50% of production a year, and lasted 4 years, meaning that we flushed 2 years of economic output paying for that war.”
Just for your numbers, we were spending almost 5% of GNP per year in Vietnam (and another 5% on other military programs). Of course we didn’t have nearly the welfare state that we have now, so actually could better afford it. But even so, Vietnam was very expensive and likely dragged out the Cold War.
” I thought even mentioning WMD’s was a mistake, and I was right, when the nuclear angle fell apart.”
I didn’t like it either. We had justification without WMDs, simply based on Hussein NOT complying with the agreement he signed in 1991 (inspections without interference, wherever and whenever we wanted)...we should left it at that and rolled in. Otherwise, what was the purpose of the agreement?
This is the moment that the bad guys go back to France to say where daddy ayatollah launches his anti-American coup against the Shah in 1979. Will it France or Russia or China? Will they fight to the death in Iran and unleash their unHoly Hell they have threatened against this time. Trump is signalling to the Iranian People to Rise UP.
“I didn’t like it either. We had justification without WMDs, simply based on Hussein NOT complying with the agreement he signed in 1991 (inspections without interference, wherever and whenever we wanted)...we should left it at that and rolled in. Otherwise, what was the purpose of the agreement?”
Dear God, are you really this ignorant? The “WMD Justification” is a MSM creation to create a falsifiable justification for the war in order to oppose it and get Ds elected.
Try reading the actual resolution authorizing the 2003 invasion:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-joint-resolution/114
Stop being an MSM/Leftist dupe.
Maybe I’m mistaken, but I seem to remember Conlin Powell INSISTING that there were WMDs in Iraq while the debate was going on.
He should have kept his mouth shut.
If they go underground, seal the entrances and exits.
“They (Al Qods and Hezbollah) are getting ready - all the Command and Control bases have been vacated and dispersed or redeployed to Iran - Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.”
We tracked it all.
The targets we didn’t have location for, now we do.
All communication in Iran is monitored except for the face-to-face spoken word.
Take care of them all at once. Don’t peter it out like W did (cough, failed to do).
God please send the knowledge to our “leaders” that we need to get out of the Middle East. Please tell our “leaders” that if you go and stick your hand in a rattlesnake’s den, it will bite you. Please inform them that there is NO “fixing” this region.
The civilized world should turn their back on most of these crapholes, wall it off intellectually, and zoom in the spy satellites on the region. If there is any sign of a missile launch or an assembly of major military hardware threatening anyone else, light it up or fry it with lasers. The only solution.
I agree.... great quote. Underrated President...
That said, I got the quote off Zhang Fei’s home page. I’m sure he’s happy we’re sharing it.
I have to wonder if Trump’s comments about cultural sites is just to throw the Iranians off. Just give them one more thing to think about in whatever stunt they are going to pull next.
I have that deck of cards...
I still have my deck as well...
WWII production and spending surely ended the Depression. Hordes of people swarmed into factories and worked for the first time in years. As men shipped out, women went in and worked also.
The destruction of what they built during war didn’t affect the money they got paid to make it and it went on for years. A lot of the money paid to these workers was saved, due to knowing the job might not last past the war and there wasn’t much to spend it on other than food, clothing, and shelter. Car production was suspended during the war, as was most large consumer items. The government encouraged people to “do without” so the soldiers could have more. Most obeyed out of patriotism and wanting to win the war and get on with normal life.
You are so right about the newly skilled workforce and wealthier companies. The technical skills attained and technological progress made during the war helped the consumer economy vastly when civilian life returned. The new consumer goods and discoveries were far more advanced than before.
Many forget that there was a brief but deep recession at the end of WWII, and that’s why Truman’s popularity declined and he wasn’t expected to win re-election. However, the soldiers themselves came back with lots of SAVED money that they had nowhere to spend and the baby boom started and also the GI Bill and so forth helped people buy homes and more and more consumer goods to support these new homes and new babies. The economy roared with all this new skilled labor, technological progress, and growing spending. It set up a near perfect economy for the 1950’s.
The resolution clearly states, " (1) defend U.S. national security against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; "
What was the threat?
As far as other "reasons" go, for one thing, the "Bush Doctrine" clearly said that we would go after states that continued to support terrorism. Nothing was ever said about limiting that doctrine to governments that supported the 911 terrorists. NOT stated, but I think a majority of US voters would have then concurred, was that taking out all such regimes would have been a mighty task, so, an example, taking out some bad actor with a still large military, in impressive fashion, needed to be made.
This was actually the correct approach, and Saddam's Iraq was the best candidate (for many reasons), however, Dubya was NOT honest with us, the people, about that aspect of it. Then what we didn't do was take the Roman approach, as others have noted: Install a hard fisted Iraqi "Herod", in this case in command of a still mostly alive Iraqi military, make it clear HIS head depended on maintaining order, no support for terrorists, and keeping Iran out (with which we would help), in a tough but little bit more civilized way than Saddam... and not have us try to build a democracy for people clearly not ready for it.
Possibly Iraq should have been split up, although then confronting Iran would have to be done differently / might require more of our military in the area.
You’ve left out perhaps the most important factor of all: We were the only major industrial power left (industrially) intact, and the war left us with a mighty capacity PLUS the tech progress you correctly describe.
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