the folly of fighting wars without congressional declaration or oversight is now totally evident. the iraq disaster engulfs the people of two nations, us and Iraq, and this brat refuses to admit a mistake, stupidity, failure-take your pick- and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Taxpayers pay, soldiers die, the Iraqis suffer. And no one except this Big Baby and his freak neocon supporters wants a war with Iran but if he wants it what are we going to do about it?

Right.

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If there is an Islamic God He is laughing with glee every time Bush makes one of his immoral speaches in favor of more war. HE must be quite pleased with HIS Bushie promoter of more wars because more wars will only make the USA more hated and more likely to suffer terrorist attacks.

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Who's side are you on?

Bush is absolutely right. His policies haven't "inflamed a region". The region was already burning out of control. We confronted the problem by taking out a tyrant that was clearly (by everybody's assessment) a dangerous threat to not only the region, but to the entire civilized world.

What is so bizarre about your's and most Democrats pseudo-position on this war is the extent to which you and they will go to state these types of criticisms. Bush doesn't have a chance with your type. If he had ignored the Saddam threat, the news of the day would be how weak he is and how he has ignored an obvious problem. By his doing the right thing and dealing with Saddam head on, he gave you all an open door to revive the anti-war movement.

You don't care about peace. If you did, you would applaud what we've done in Iraq. For us to leave Saddam in power, would have meant that we were just as weak and as inconsequential as the U.N.. It would mean that we were all talk, and that would have been a signal for terrorists that they could attack us without any fear of reprisal. That was Jimmy Carter style leadership. That's exactly when the terrorist threat really started taking off too. The way to make peace is to get rid of the anti-peace forces, and Saddam was certainly that.

*Everybody* was saying that too . . . until Bush did something about it. That changed the tenor of the Democrats, because now they had a political football that they could kick around. The Democratic party has proved to the entire nation that they are all about political power and not about doing the right thing.

I'm sure there's not much hope of me changing your mind. Your mindset is based on getting Democrats back into power and getting Republicans out. It's not about peace or truth.

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It has become a cliche, but it's nevertheless true: U.S. policy toward the Middle East and Central Asia is a replay of its Vietnam debacle. What's more, the roots of its difficulties are the same: Ignorance of and arrogance toward the cultural and political forces at work in the region.

Republican strategists and their hand-picked minions in the Defense Department and other key agencies don't know much about the Islamic world and don't want to. They are unable to differentiate between the religious rhetoric of some conservative mullahs and the actual political behavior of the regimes in the region. And all it took was a couple of nut cases like Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden to trigger the huge U.S. war machine, which tends to become quickly bogged down when it encounters determined resistance.

Bush 1 did the smart thing by getting into Iraq and getting out quickly. Bush 2 (or, rather, Dick Cheney) isn't that smart and is leading us toward World War III with Iran and Pakistan because he's too stubborn to admit he's wrong. The more things change, indeed . . .

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One more thing: Would the Bushies be insane enough to try to re-impose the military draft to carry out their quixotic adventures in the Islamic Crescent? (I think I just coined a term.)

Why . . . yes, they would.

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Every time this stupid bastard goes on the telly, I tape it and then transfer the tape to DVD. It's something I have to do. Someday someone yet unborn won't be able to believe it without seeing it. I'll have the evidence.
War! War! War! If these contemptable jackals have their way, we'll be fighting this so-called, "war on terror" for generations". Go, George, go!

We have all the evidence we need, right? Then what the fuck are we waiting for?? Oh! Right......the November elections. You can't count on the 109th congress to do the right thing, that's for sure! Impeachment will not come unless and until the House and the Senate are returned to the democratic party. 2006 and 2008 are not the years to be experimenting with third parties. As I said on an earlier posting, comparing the democrats and republicans is like comparing alcohol and cyanide - one poison is definately preferrable to the other (Not bad, ay?).

Pray for peace.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
"The Rant" by Tom Degan

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How many more lives must be sacrificed for the Rabid Right’s deceitful, illegal, immoral and insane attack on a country that had nothing to do with 9/11? We hear lies piled on lies to justify the unconscionable. When will republicans admit to themselves that they have elected a criminally insane regime of war profiteering Huns so bent on world conquest that they threaten to bankrupt and destroy our country.

We must stop the fascist madmen by whatever means necessary.

If we don’t, people everywhere will hold all Americans accountable. Much of the world now sees us as in the same boat as Nazi Germany.

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I wonder if "Julius Caesar" was one of the 'Shakespere's' that Dubya read. If so he might have come across this speech by Mark Anthony:

Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy.
Blood and destruction shall be so in use,
And dreadful objects so familiar,
That mothers shall but smile when they behold their infants
Quartered with the hands of war.
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines, with a monarch's voice
Cry 'HAVOC' and let slip the dogs of war
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.

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US uses Islamic Jihad for terror since '79 and still uses the mujahadeen from various locals with the intelligence network to route out undesirable governments and announce a war on terror. I've known about this since the Carter and Reagan administrations when I learned about them from foreign students at college and it's program called Afghan studies (which is supported by the military). Democratic slant called "Fisking the war on Terror" by Juan Cole doesn't go far enough but gets the basics down ( http://www.juancole.com/2005/08/
fisking-war-on-terror-once-upon-time.html ).
While still supporting these groups of "freedom fighters", the Bush administration is the biggest hypocrite to ever hold an office (worst president ever). Democrats are as much for a police state as republicans voting 98-0 in the senate for larger DHS and military spending.

Information regarding the creation and use of the Islamic Jihad movement at:

--The Muslim Terrorist Apparatus was Created by US Intelligence as a Geopolitical Weapon
http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/brz.htm

--The Largest Covert Operation in CIA History
http://hnn.us/articles/1491.html

--Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski
http://www.marxists.org/history/afghanistan
/archive/brzezinski/1998/interview.htm
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html

Since Afghanistan, US intelligence has used "freedom fighters" for covert activites to destablize governments from Bosnia, Kosavo, Chechnya, Iraq and now Iran. We have NEVER lost touch with these groups after Afghanistan and have worked closely with them as the death squads of the middle east, just as the School of the Americas out of Fort Benning Georgia. The School of the Americas is the center for terrorising Central and South America and creating puppet leaders for overthrown governments in that region.

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The Clash of Civilizations frame is used in the same manner as the Savage Red Man frame was used. Land was covetted, natives lived on it, movers and shakers of capitalism created a well used method for separating the people from thier land so that they could profit. Incite fear among the closest whites with phony tales of planned attacks. Hire criminals to provoke an attack. If the response from the natives failed to occur the hired criminals were used to rustle livestock or even commit attrocities. This same M.O. has been well studied by Israel and it's neo-con minions and is now operative as The War on Terror.

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Joshaua Holland has written another good article but, could have taken the point further. The states US and Israel now conducting “state terror” and human rights abuses with impunity, with only one tool in their kit and not even half a brain between them, have both thriving weapons industries and a lust for resources and cheap real estate. They both have and are the same problem. They are run for money and power by corrupt corporate fascists of insatiable greed and arrogance who are prone to self delusion.

When you start putting the quotes of various speakers beside each other there is a frightening truth and irony that becomes apparent.

Yesterday, Knesset Member Efi Eitam said, "We will have to expel the great majority of the Arabs of Judea and Samaria,", referring to the whole of the West Bank. Also according to this individual "It is impossible with all of these Arabs, and it is impossible to give up the territory. We've already seen what they're doing there." Not least in reference to Israeli citizens of Arab berth, Eitam said, "We will have to take another decision, and that is to sweep the Israeli Arabs from the political system. Here, too, the issues are clear and simple.

Meanwhile In defending himself on the performance of his recent chosen war this last week Prime Minister Olmert had a noisy exchange with MK Ran Cohen (Meretz), concerning Omert’s appearance before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence committee Cohen said “Everyone in Israel knows the war is the forerunner for the next one. This war ended in complete failure” to which Olmert retorted after banging on the table “…..The claim that we lost is unfounded. Half of Lebanon is destroyed; is that a loss?"

So having heard from Bush his thoughts on how successful his war in Iraq is and understanding Olmert’s definition of success; with these views of success in mind was Bush in his address talking about an expanded Israel (with US help) when he said that the alternative was "leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons." Was he suggesting that we might expect the expansion of the havoc now spreading with their “dogs of war” From Bagdad to Beirut and probably soon to Tehran, to provide the malleable and “successfully” defeated foundation of a further expanded Israeli “lebensraum” .

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In an effort to deal with my frustration with these sociopaths in a healthy way, I wrote a song about all this which I call "Neocon Dream". Below are the words. You can download an MP3, free for non-commercial, non-profit use, from http://www.4shared.com/dir/674325/d5201149/sharing.html

Neocon Dream

Don't tell us the truth, just tell us what we want to hear
So we can feel all warm inside while we make war this year
Don't give us any facts that just might make us look like fools
Tell us it's OK to kill 'cause George Almighty rules

Take the truth and shove it down your looney left wing throats
Then wash it down with Mideast oil we won with our Swift Boats
We'll wipe our bloody hands upon our Chinese sweatshop shirts
And kiss Dick Cheney's ass while we grind your face in the dirt

God is on our side 'cause Pat and Jerry said it's so
And if you don't believe those boys then off to hell you'll go
Solomon is dumb beside O'Reilly and Limbaugh
They're so wise that what they say we're gonna make it law

We're gonna put our Godly selves behind a great big wall
And chisel Christian dogma on public buildings all
One way or another we'll make sure you are a fan
Nobody can stop the new American Taliban!

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"terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons"

Hmmm, sound like any country we live in?

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The Presidents' speech, muddled though it was made one thing perfectly clear; he does not call upon or is conscripted to forgo the use of critical thinking.

"I may be going the wrong way but I'm making record time"

Partisan politics are obfuscating the fact that one never gets on the right road until you turn back and find out where you need to go.

There is no glory or victory in taking the 1st prize (drowning) in a lemming race.

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Part of the Bush Regime's long-term plan, it's hidden agenda, is to keep the country in a constant state of preemptive war. The plan, developed by The Project for a New American Century, details the Regime's true plans and has been published. Its signers include such Bush cronies as Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, et. al. The PNAC is widely available on the Web.

For a quick introduction to the PNAC, check out this page. It offers several links to more sites on the subject:

http://viewfromthemeadow.com/preemptregime.html

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is actually the opposite of whatever Bush says it is.

And this film proves it: 9/11 Press For Truth

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1016720641536424083

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...isn't he? I mean, he is looney-toons. Insane.

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Anyone recall the famous 1980's photo of Rummy gladhanding Saddam Hussein?

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Many Americans are too young to remember, but the history of terrorism against Americans (and our allies) may help us understand the reasoning for “The War in Iraq”, and many others need to be reminded. See the website listed below if you want a history lesson or a reminder of the Americans and others who have been murdered in the name of Islam. http://www.geocities.com/ktkris.geo/victims.html
Americans have been attacked by Islamic Extremist over four dozen times in the last 40 years, before 9/11. Over 1200 Americans were killed and thousands injured (for non-Americans, you can almost triple these numbers). We have done virtually nothing about it. Why? Because they're cowards who strike and then hide. They are using the same strategy in Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places in the world. They hide in countries that will protect them or they are in regions of those countries that are very isolated with little or no government control. This is why we have not been able to retaliate appropriately during any administration. These terrorist groups were not Al Qaeda, so don’t be fooled into thinking this war is against them alone. Let’s not forget about Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatwa, Hezbollah, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Asbat al-Ansar, Al-Jihad and there are many, many more. They have all attacked and killed Americans for decades. They hate what we are as well as what we do, so don’t think that the war in Iraq is creating more terrorists; it is merely bringing them out of their hiding places, finally. We have waited for this opportunity for too many years. But there is a much larger problem. The terrorists know they can not defeat the American war machine. They can only hope to kill as many of us as possible to bolster their support in the Islamic world to win over more recruits while they wait for their ultimate strategy to succeed. You see, their only hope is to use the free western media against us, and its working. The terrorists know how to use our media and politics against us. Our news media could care less as long as they get the story and our politicians fall for it hook line and sinker with their Bi-Partisan Politics. Just get the media to report all the soldiers dying, which will eventually outrage the American public, who in turn will protest against the war until the government gives in and brings all the soldiers home. Then all the terrorist groups can claim victory and get even more powerful.
Wake up America, don’t let this happen. Their vision of the future is parallel with the Taliban government of pre-9/11 Afghanistan. But first they must KILL the infidels. That’s us. Think about the things we know about the terrorists: They have hated who we are (infidels) for half a century, they want us dead, they will commit suicide to kill us, they believe they will go to heaven if they do so. We have seized laptops and literature that proves they are trying to acquire a nuclear weapons or the technology to make one. It is inevitable that they will succeed one day if we don’t act now. North Korea, Iran or Pakistan could supply this technology one day. Another coup in Pakistan is possible in the next few years, Iran will soon have a nuclear reactor, and you know what they think of us, and then there’s North Korea. Will we wait for a nuclear explosion in a major US city before we understand what their goals are? We are in Iraq not only to fight a long time enemy that has killed hundreds of our loved ones, but to change the face of the Middle East by opening their minds to religious and cultural tolerance. This can be done by giving them a taste of real freedom and financial security for their families. The region has the financial wealth to accomplish this with the right government in place. Open your eyes America, don’t let the media affect your good judgment. They have their own agendas which has priority over our National Security. God Bless America and its Warriors!

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The terrorists know how to use our media and politics against us. Our news media could care less as long as they get the story and our politicians fall for it hook line and sinker with their Bi-Partisan Politics.

I meant Partisan Politics... oops

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The first big lie was that Iraq had WMD, after Bush and cronies forced the CIA to fabricate intelligence for them. We are now being played up for the next big lie. What will it be, that Iran is supporting "terrorists" in Iraq or that "they are months away from a bomb." Well now, we can only hope Iran gets the bomb, only for the purposes of deterring Israeli and US aggression. However, it looks like irregardless of Iran's status on acquiring a bomb, they will be targeted.

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Actually Bush is the biggest supporter of Muslim radicalism when you really look at it. If you are Iran, this is what you see. Your neighboor, Iraq has 140-150,000 troops plus thousands more "special forces," and civilian contractor mercs, all stationed there from a foreign occupying power with a different religion and culture (the USA). And on top of that, you have a nuclear armed Israel armed to the teeth by the USA and with no seeming compunction not to use force if desired (as in Lebanon), you have US bases and weapons cached across the region, you see on Al Jazeera ceasless stories of atrocities and barbarism committed by US forces in Iraq on a regular basis (such as rape/murder of 14 year old children and entire families) and stories that the USA already arranged for most of Iraq's oil and resources to be sold off to companies like Bechtel and Halliburton. And, if that isn't enough (does it every stop?) you have Bush himself saying he believes in "pre-emption," even possibly presumably with nuclear weapons against states he deems to be developing "terrorism." So, the right wing Mullahs in Iran and Osama are Bush and companies biggest fans, they could not hope for anytrhing better then him. Now, no amount of US sponsored news reporting or sending ding-dongs like Karen Hughes in will help. Just how stupid can the Arab peoples possibly be anyway? Add it all up, and if you are Iran and in charge of either developing a nuclear program or not, what would you do???

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Dear mr/ms 'whose side are you on?'
You have bought the whole Bush lie about the dangers to the world of Saddam Hussein's regime. Following desert storm Saddam was only interested in preserving his grip on Iraq as destructive as that was. He knew that he could be defeated if he challenged the west in any strong way. That is why he did not have any weapons of mass destruction.
It is also why he and his party had no truck with bin Laden and his ilk. To allow foreign terrorists to be based in his country would have been a long-term threat to his control of his country.
The attack on was based on the personal pathologies of Bush, Cheny, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and the other neocons.
As for getting rid of the Republicans then that is a valid aim in a democracy is it not? Perhaps not in the form of 'democracy' which the Republican party is striving to inflict upon America with the corruption of the voting rolls, the removal of any systemic checks on the voting systems, the disenfranchisement of as many potential opponents as possible, etc, etc.
To an outsider it is increasing laughable and disturbing when your resident idiot Bush talks of exporting democracy when there remain serious questions about the processes by which he was effectively appointed president by a suborned Supreme Court.
As to your title question. Most are on the side of truth something which, to varying degrees, is foreign to the political operatives. Their only interest is power.
The only way to control them is to expose them for the liars they are and to threaten their privileges.
The first way to do that in the presidential election system of the USA is to throw out your present system and institute a more rational system like a broadly based preferential voting system. Do it with paper ballots.
Do away with voter registration in its present form. Anyone who is able to prove American citizenship is entitled to vote and does not have to declare any political affiliation to anyone outside the voting booth.
What you system lacks is simplicity and transparency and that suits the big powerful parties and the whores and parasites they send into congress and the senate.

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this guy is an immature, koolaid drinking evangelical. His speech could just as easily be coded to tell the other wingnut religious zealots that the End Times are here.
I would talk to someone with a religious background or scholar and see what he/she makes of the speech and the between the lines.
Remember, Shrub is not the most stable man and coupled with his remarks today about the 3rd Awakening, well, anything is possible

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My solution is a total boycott of anything Disney and to attempt to convince everyone I know to follow do the same. Old pappa Disney, along with Walter Knott of Knott's Berry Farm, were the two anchors of Orange County's theme park revolution in the 1950's. They were also prime supporters of The John Birch Society, an anti Communist, theoretically educational organization dedicated to moving American politics as far to the right as possible. The irony is that John Birch may not have been a supporter of that idea but wasn't consulted since he had died in WWII.

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I could not believe the newspeople sitting at the President's speech and not questioning him regarding his comments about the killing of civilians, the American's and destroying.
How can a person get away with this? (I learned this from Fox) Please know that there is no more America the beatiful but now we are the "Evil Empire" one that destroys and leave only the rich and powerful (Sudia) in control. America as a Republic is no more.

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All of you who say Iraq was not the problem are correct. Iraq was not the problem, but the problem of terrorism is a REGIONAL one and Iraq is part of the region. Iraq offered an open door, an excuse, which allowed us an entry point into the region... finally. How can anyone with half a brain say Saddam was not a threat? He threatened to kill an American president! He destabilized the entire Middle East! Does anyone think he was happy with us for kicking him out of Kuwait? Was he a threat to the Kuwaitis, Kurds and Shiites? I’m sure we could all say there was no evidence to support such allegations BEFORE he dragged them from their homes in the middle of the night to rape and murder entire families and gas entire villages. Was this done without the use of weapons of mass destruction? You idiots make me sick to my stomach. My biggest fear is that you will someday get your way and elect some fool who doesn’t have the cajunas to make the tough decisions. Every President has to make decisions of life and death. How many more of us must die by the hands of these terrorists before you feel we are justified to go into the Middle East and kill them? And we are killing terrorist in Iraq. They have come from underneath their rocks from all over the Middle East to kill the Infidel American devils. They hate who we are as much as what we do and only death will stop them. There are a billion Muslims in the world and 99.9% of them want peace, because Islam is peace. The other .1% are extremists who care about nothing but their agenda of death, dominance and oppression.
Is a mushroom cloud in your neighborhood the only thing that will wake you up? Just remember, Al Qaeda is not the only terrorist organization to attack us in the last 50 years. We have lost over 1200 Americans before 9/11 to Islamic Extremists from all over the Middle Eastern Region.

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