Bush's 'days, weeks' add up to 6 months

Wash Times ^ | Joseph Curl

[george wythe]

We have to agree to disagree on this issue.

Your points seem ridiculous to me, since no one in the Bush administration has offered your excuse of a "weak" military for not starting the Iraqi war at the best time, i.e. optimal weather conditions during winter.

[Wordsmith]

Sorry, but 130 degree temps for several months would be highly dehabilitating to forces attempting to stage. Bush is cutting it closer than I would like, but Turkey kinda screwed us, so it's taking a bit of time to adjust. I've about had enough on this thread.

Thanks for the conversation. We'll just have to see what happens over the weeks to come. 130 degree temps are even more debilitating to warfighting than to staging. I don't think we're going anywhere yet, and the next excuse will be the heat.

[dirtboy]

who seems to be getting it from both directions.

Thanks for the support - although I must admit that hearing absurdity played in stereo is hardly a new experience for me on FR...

[ThinkDifferent]

no one in Bush administration has offered your excuse of a "weak" military

That's not exactly something I'd expect them to say publicly.

[Wordsmith]

The threat of WMD retaliation by Sadaam and al Qaeda has NOW been reduced greatly as Cheney alluded to several weeks ago.

It has, but has it been reduced enough to risk provoking it? Once the civilian anthrax vaccine is ready, there won't be any doubt.

[TLBSHOW]

The facts are we are trying to make the UN stronger not weaker! My opinion!

[Amelia]

So, is your argument that GWB has taken 4 months longer than his Daddy to get the troops in place? Or is it that he didn't have the troops in place before he went to the U.N.? Or is it that he went to the U.N. at all?

Or are you just here for some generalized griping about the President & his administration?

[Allan]

Bump

[BJR]

And what was the reason for his "time is running out," "weeks not months," fluid deadlines, and "show their cards" bravado? What about his ducking legitimate questions from reporters on his position reversals today?

Done to protect we civilians? You are simply in a state of denial if you accept and rationalize his abysmal performance over the past four months.

[Miss Marple]

I am simply using logic. Anthrax, as we have seen, is treatable if diagnosed properly. An attack on a city would cost some lives, but not the millions that an unrecognized epidemic would. Since 9/11, we have stockpiled antibiotics and vaccines, prepared emergency plans for major cities, educated health care workers on symptoms,sent warnings to crop-dusters and small airports, and spent a great amount of time rounding up suspected terrorists. There is still a risk, but not the risk we faced right after 9/11.

Were we unable to assume the risk, we would not have 300,000 men deployed in the Persian Gulf area. That is a huge cost in money, as well as a disruption of families and loss of life in training and transport. This was not done for a bluff.

[oceanview]

How are you going to convince people to get the anthrax vaccine, unless you tell them the truth about the anthrax threat? If a civilian vaccine were available right now, I bet if you took a poll and asked people if they would volunteer to take it, less then 5% would.

[dirtboy]

The military has been ready to go for one month

Hmmm. Let's see - a month ago we were still waiting for Turkey to decide if we could use bases there for a northern front, and many units were still waiting for their heavy equipment to arrive. Maybe you were getting your news from a different source than I was.

It's past the time freepers started calling for a real conservative replacement candidate for 2004!

Ahhh ... now it all becomes clear. Making political points over the execution of the buildup for a war, and doing it by distorting the facts. Some conservative you are.

[oceanview]

not an antibiotic resistant strain, that's not treatable. and we aren't talking about a few letters this time, they could hit metro area subway systems with it and expose millions.

[george wythe]

When you do think that the best time to send our troops to fight Iraq?

[TLBSHOW]

We have been ready since last September.

[dirtboy]

We have been ready since last September.

Repeat after me. In the very article you are getting this from, it clearly stated that in September we had 10,000 troops in Kuwait. If you can't understand that 10,000 troops ain't enough to invade Iraq, you need remedial math in a bad, bad way.

[Miss Marple]

How do you know they have an antibiotic-resistant strain that's not treatable?

You can imagine all sorts of scenarios if you like with new strains of Ebola (as detailed in Executive Orders by Tom Clancy) or mutated smallpox carried by self-infected sleepers who attend large sporting events.

At some point, you have to deal with what we know, not what we imagine in our worst nightmares. To refuse to act based on every imagined worst case in to become a nation in paralysis, and we will fail in the war.

[TomB]

When you do think that the best time to send our troops to fight Iraq?

When they are in place and ready.

[FloridaBoy]

A very good post. I totally agree with you. Thanks!