Despite the fact that the most resonant theme in the upcoming elections is the overall trepidation about the conduct of the Iraq war/occupation, I get the sense that people are still a bit nervous about bush coming out and saying he, and republicans will better protect the American people.And that it might work.
You know what is scary to me? In the first Gulf war, under the goddessdamned "Powell Doctrine", we achieved an objective with a relative minimal loss of life for our military.
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In our present situation, we are not only bogged down without an end in sight, but we are suffering huge casualties; not only the number of dead, but the maimed and stress-disabled that are coming out of this war is mind-boggling.
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rummy is being portrayed, by some, as an able administrator, remaking the army into some "lean and mean" operation, but the results of that revamping are hardly apparent. We've heard the dismal stories of insufficient troops and armor, and we must most of all wonder, why, if we have gone down the slippery slope of endorsing torture, we do not seem to be getting better intelligence to thwart the insurgency.
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Today, in Afghanistan, we heard about a 60+ civilian casualty count in a NATO operation.
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What are the results when we harm more civilians than we kill our adversaries? A population that might have initially supported us turns against us?
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It is apparent that the bushian global war on terror has but a single tactic/strategy: keep killing the perceived enemy. But the perceptions of the enemy morph and it isn't clear how much more killing must go on. Tough. Difficult. But in 2 years bush will be relaxin' in Paraguay instead of the Camarillo.
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What shape will our military be at that point?
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The National Guard could not be there to save New Orleans, because of Iraq.If you live in any other state that might have to endure a natural disaster, how protected do you feel?
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The United States was the only country in the world that had the power and rep to bring the Israelis and the Palestinians to the bargaining table. It appears that the only thing this administration has done on that score, is to make Iraq into an even more difficult "South Palestine"
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Retired generals who served in Iraq are condemning the president's policies; active duty military are petitioning for redress.
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How protected do you feel when your country's military seems more nervous than they've ever seemed and you see no glimmer of hope in foreign policy, whether it concerns Iran, North Korea or Israel/Palestine?
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Not to mention the African countries wherein genocide or radical extremism become chronic.
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PS. The stock market won't protect you.