posted on June 2, 2003 10:52:34 AM new
Until we were attacked by The Empire of Japan the United States maintained a position of neutality in Europe. Many US bankers and industrialists aided Germany both politically, and financially in it's efforts to arm itself and facilitated its war efforts for profit. (Among those were Henry Ford, Lindbergh, and Prescott Bush whose assets were siezed after the war began as he was found to be aiding the enemy.) The myth that we were rushing to the aid of France, England and Eastern Europe is simply that a myth, we were acting in defense of an attack in the Pacific.
posted on June 2, 2003 11:03:40 AM new
It will be a suitcase dirty bomb,blame will go to Iran.
The what "if's" have been blasted on TV for so long,its easy to figure the next disaster.
posted on June 2, 2003 11:53:56 AM new
There were many industrialist that were Pro German prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. You forgot a few, like General Motors, Westinghouse, the Vanderbilts, Kennedys and dozens of other of the "Rich & Famous". You can't just point out your most popular targets.
U.S. companies also sold scrap steel to Japan prior to the war that was returned to us in the form of bullets & bombs.
Russia sure didn't plan on aiding Europe & Brittan, they signed a non agression pact (with plans to divide up Europe) with Germany & came into the war when Hitler attacked them.
posted on June 2, 2003 05:13:25 PM new
BUSH LIED ABOUT THE TRUCKS BEING BIO WEAPONS LABS!
WMD just a convenient excuse for war, admits Wolfowitz
The Bush administration focused on alleged weapons of mass destruction as the primary justification for toppling Saddam Hussein by force because it was politically convenient, a top-level official at the Pentagon has acknowledged.
Source: David Usborne, 2003-05-30 00:00:00.000
Candidate: Big Government
The Bush administration focused on alleged weapons of mass destruction as the primary justification for toppling Saddam Hussein by force because it was politically convenient, a top-level official at the Pentagon has acknowledged.
The extraordinary admission comes in an interview with Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Defence Secretary, in the July issue of the magazine Vanity Fair.
Mr Wolfowitz also discloses that there was one justification that was "almost unnoticed but huge". That was the prospect of the United States being able to withdraw all of its forces from Saudi Arabia once the threat of Saddam had been removed. Since the taking of Baghdad, Washington has said that it is taking its troops out of the kingdom. "Just lifting that burden from the Saudis is itself going to the door" towards making progress elsewhere in achieving Middle East peace, Mr Wolfowitz said. The presence of the US military in Saudi Arabia has been one of the main grievances of al-Qa'ida and other terrorist groups.
"For bureaucratic reasons we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree on," Mr Wolfowitz tells the magazine.
The comments suggest that, even for the US administration, the logic that was presented for going to war may have been an empty shell. They come to light, moreover, just two days after Mr Wolfowitz's immediate boss, Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, conceded for the first time that the arms might never be found.
The failure to find a single example of the weapons that London and Washington said were inside Iraq only makes the embarrassment more acute. Voices are increasingly being raised in the US - and Britain - demanding an explanation for why nothing has been found.
Most striking is the fact that these latest remarks come from Mr Wolfowitz, recognised widely as the leader of the hawks' camp in Washington most responsible for urging President George Bush to use military might in Iraq. The magazine article reveals that Mr Wolfowitz was even pushing Mr Bush to attack Iraq immediately after the 11 September attacks in the US, instead of invading Afghanistan.
There have long been suspicions that Mr Wolfowitz has essentially been running a shadow administration out of his Pentagon office, ensuring that the right-wing views of himself and his followers find their way into the practice of American foreign policy. He is best known as the author of the policy of first-strike pre-emption in world affairs that was adopted by Mr Bush shortly after the al-Qa'ida attacks.
In asserting that weapons of mass destruction gave a rationale for attacking Iraq that was acceptable to everyone, Mr Wolfowitz was presumably referring in particular to the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell. He was the last senior member of the administration to agree to the push earlier this year to persuade the rest of the world that removing Saddam by force was the only remaining viable option.
The conversion of Mr Powell was on full view in the UN Security Council in February when he made a forceful presentation of evidence that allegedly proved that Saddam was concealing weapons of mass destruction.
Critics of the administration and of the war will now want to know how convinced the Americans really were that the weapons existed in Iraq to the extent that was publicly stated. Questions are also multiplying as to the quality of the intelligence provided to the White House. Was it simply faulty - given that nothing has been found in Iraq - or was it influenced by the White House's fixation on the weapons issue? Or were the intelligence agencies telling the White House what it wanted to hear?
This week, Sam Nunn, a former senator, urged Congress to investigate whether the argument for war in Iraq was based on distorted intelligence. He raised the possibility that Mr Bush's policy against Saddam had influenced the intelligence that indicated Baghdad had weapons of mass destruction.
This week, the CIA and the other American intelligence agencies have promised to conduct internal reviews of the quality of the material they supplied the administration on what was going on in Iraq. The heat on the White House was only made fiercer by Mr Rumsfeld's admission that nothing may now be found in Iraq to back up those earlier claims, if only because the Iraqis may have got rid of any evidence before the conflict.
"It is also possible that they decided that they would destroy them prior to a conflict," the Defence Secretary said.
* The US military said last night that it had released a suspected Iraqi war criminal by mistake. US Central Command said it was offering a $25,000 (315,000) reward for the capture of Mohammed Jawad An-Neifus, suspected of being involved in the murder of thousands of Iraqi Shia Muslims whose remains were found at a mass grave in Mahawil, southern Iraq, last month.
The alleged mobile weapons laboratories
As scepticism grows over the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, London and Washington are attempting to turn the focus of attention to Iraq's alleged possession of mobile weapons labs.
A joint CIA and Defence Intelligence Agency report released this week claimed that two trucks found in northern Iraq last month were mobile labs used to develop biological weapons. The trucks were fitted with hi-tech laboratory equipment and the report said the discovery represented the "strongest evidence to date that Iraq was hiding a biowarfare programme".
The design of the vehicles made them "an ingeniously simple self-contained bioprocessing system". The report said no other purpose, for example water purification, medical laboratory or vaccine production, would justify such effort and expense.
But critics arenot convinced. No biological agents were found on the trucks and experts point out that, unlike the trucks described by Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, in a speech to the UN Security Council, they were open sided and would therefore have left a trace easy for weapons inspectors to detect. One former UN inspector said that the trucks would have been a very inefficient way to produce bio or chemical weapons.
[ edited by bigcitycollectables on Jun 2, 2003 05:18 PM ]
posted on June 2, 2003 05:26:56 PM new
Proud to be an American
I am an American. My parents were Americans, my parents parents. I'm proud of the principles on which this country was built - Truth, Justice, Honor, Courage and Liberty.
Source: Robbie Lindauer, 2003-03-21 00:00:00.000
Candidate: Big Government
But those core values - the foundation of our constitution and the declaration of independance which started this country are being fundamentally corrupted by John Aschcroft, George Bush, Dick Cheney and Colin Powell.
It embarasses me that we are fighting a war of FEAR - that's right, a chicken's war. A bully's war - against a foe that doesn't want to fight and only might be dangerous. That's right, George Bush is a CHICKEN, a service-dodging chicken.
It saddens me that people aren't allowed to say what they think anymore, that's right, that our fundamental freedom of speech is being curtailed by the so-called Patriot act which makes it illegal to say certain things and makes it so that the Government doesn't have to use due process to deprive you of your life, liberty and property. That's right, John Aschcroft is a Fascist of the first order. That's what my family fought against in World War I and World War II, yours probably did too.
It saddens me that the press is now in the hands of four very powerful conglomerates, themselves controlled by powerful banking interests, meaning that the free and independant press is quickly becoming neither. Why, because the TRUTH doesn't get said in public anymore, now we can be sure that the only thing that makes prime time television or the newspapers is Propaganda - the message the way large banks would like to have it heard.
It's SHAMEFUL that we are carpet-bombing defenseless people in Iraq. The number I heard today was 20,000 bombs on Baghdad. Why not just use a nuke and get it over with? What did these poor people do other than suffer under a dictatorship put in place by the US Government? That is dishonorable. It's shameful that it goes on in the name of our people who value honor.
Finally, the arrests on the basis that people are congregating "illegally" is baloney - a restriction of our constitutionally protected right to free speech. That people are not allowed to say what they want, when they want how they want it and that their actions should be curtailed for purely political reasons is against Liberty - the act of a tyrannical regime - the kind of thing we're supposedly fighting against in Iraq.
That our Administration, Congress and Supreme Court are allowing this shame to come on our country over the clear voice of the People of the United States is a crime against the lives given by our forefathers for the protection of our freedoms, and against humanity itself.
posted on June 3, 2003 04:47:52 PM new
When all three major U.S. newsweeklies -- Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report -- run major features on the same day on possible government lying, you can bet you have the makings of a major scandal.
And when the two most important outlets of neo-conservative opinion -- The Weekly Standard and The Wall Street Journal -- come out on the same day with lead editorials spluttering outrage about suggestions of government lying, you can bet that things are going to get very hot as summer approaches in Washington.
The controversy over whether the administration of President George W. Bush either exaggerated or lied about evidence that it said it had about the existence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion has mushroomed over the past week.
"This is potentially very serious," said one Congressional aide. "If it's shown we went to war because of intelligence that was 'cooked' by the administration, heads will have to roll -- and not just little heads, big ones."
posted on June 3, 2003 05:34:38 PM new
oh why don't you all lay off the man. He is only a man not God. The economy sucked with Jimmy the Peanut King Carter was in office. But hey he was such a nice guy. right? Why don't some of you run for president? You seem to have such passion about it. I mean your wasting your time dissing the dude in a chatroom. You only have one life to live why not go out there and run for office?
posted on June 3, 2003 06:38:39 PM new
One in seven Americans has no health coverage, and at least 65 million have no coverage for prescription drugs, but the new Senate leader's stated priority is a congressional ban on human embryo cell research--a favor Bush owes to his backers in the Christian Right.
posted on June 3, 2003 06:50:10 PM new
Yea! Helen for President! LOL!! Hell, I'd vote for her. At least she knows where our priorities should lay, which is more than I can say for the current administration. It's only a matter of time before the all the skeletons start coming out of the closet. So, what is it I have to do to earn favors from the powers that be?
Cheryl
My religion is simple, my religion is kindness.
--Dalai Llama
posted on June 3, 2003 06:50:38 PM new
well I mean it would be nice to have health insurance. I guess a human embryo is about the same as a chicken egg to you. Right? all the evil christian right? oooo they are so evil.
posted on June 3, 2003 06:53:25 PM new
Right they are evil ooooooooooooo Everything is working against you? and I guess that is right about the human embryo being about the same as a chicken egg? well I think the LEFT is EVIL.
posted on June 3, 2003 07:06:09 PM new
Oh, boy, here we go again. I cannot take one more religious debate. If the Left is evil, I guess we are all condemned to Hell. Oh well, I like it hot. OMG, you totally missed Helen's point. You'll learn soon enough.
Cheryl
My religion is simple, my religion is kindness.
--Dalai Llama
[ edited by CBlev65252 on Jun 3, 2003 07:06 PM ]
posted on June 3, 2003 07:24:25 PM new
what did I miss? Helen said the right is evil? I responded! You just don't like the fact I respond! Should I "get" helens point? Am I here to be changed? Maybe she does not get "my point".
I don't think the right is evil. There are some things about Bush I really don't care for but there are some things that are okay. I get to make my decision the next election.
Impeaching Presidents is stupid and hurts our country. It hurt us with Clinton and it will hurt us with Bush. I think we should show unity even in our difference because he is the president and our nation needs stability. A house divided cannot stand. Its is one thing to have a difference of opinion. But to start screaming impeachment is just plain stupid. Let him finish he term and then elect another president you want. If he does not win the election then you lost. STOP THE IMPEACHMENT CRAP with any president of any party affliation.
posted on June 3, 2003 07:24:26 PM new
what did I miss? Helen said the right is evil? I responded! You just don't like the fact I respond! Should I "get" helens point? Am I here to be changed? Maybe she does not get "my point".
I don't think the right is evil. There are some things about Bush I really don't care for but there are some things that are okay. I get to make my decision the next election.
Impeaching Presidents is stupid and hurts our country. It hurt us with Clinton and it will hurt us with Bush. I think we should show unity even in our difference because he is the president and our nation needs stability. A house divided cannot stand. Its is one thing to have a difference of opinion. But to start screaming impeachment is just plain stupid. Let him finish he term and then elect another president you want. If he does not win the election then you lost. STOP THE IMPEACHMENT CRAP with any president of any party affliation.
posted on June 3, 2003 07:33:47 PM new
I was talking about the human embryo cell research comment that you turned into something it wasn't meant to be. Geesh, don't get so bent out of shape. Priorities. It's all about priorities! Get it? Got it? Huh?
Edited because it's late and spelling is off.
Cheryl
My religion is simple, my religion is kindness.
--Dalai Llama
[ edited by CBlev65252 on Jun 3, 2003 07:35 PM ]
posted on June 3, 2003 09:59:31 PM new
Thats a really cynical cartoon. I guess if you had a daughter being raped by ooday you would be happy? You have so much freedom you just take for granted. I don't understand how you could not feel for the tortured people in this area. You are politicizing the good that came from it. Should we have left the jews in the concentration camps?
posted on June 3, 2003 10:15:06 PM new
Pardon my ignorance but what does an embryo have to do with insuring those that have been born. I believe we can agree that those of us who survived the trip down the birth canal are here and as we are citizens of the richest nation in the world surely should have access to medicine.
Should we have left the jews in the concentration camps? We did for the most part, many US Corporations profitted directly from the slave labor of the camps, freeing the camps was not a priority.
Both stem cell research and theraputic cloning hold incredible promise in curing many diseases as well as transplantation.
The same religious movement which locked up Galileo and Cuppernacus must not be allowed to impose it's will on the majority.
posted on June 3, 2003 10:22:09 PM new
why don't you back it up with facts. The jews got out of the camp. I guess all those guys who died on d-day did it for nothing?
An embryo is a human being thats why stem cell research is morally wrong.
posted on June 3, 2003 10:39:06 PM new
The US entered WW2 after it was attacked in the Pacific. The camps being liberated was not the primary reason for D-Day.
I will not engage in any discussion which is based on religious theory as your belief is not mine and I am not subject to living my life based on your superstitions or those of your church.
posted on June 4, 2003 06:46:41 AM new
Yeah, that caring for the people stuff has got to go..... If they start doing the US might become a better place and then where would the Corporations get their slave labor as good people won't stand for it?
12pole, I bet you pray to the Gods of industry... In case you haven't noticed, and you obviously haven't, the present politics are the ones that have screwed up the nation. Helen and Dave and the new politics. Now tell me how something that has not been tried before has previously screwed the nation? Knew you couldn't!
LOL!! Hell, I'd vote for her. At least she knows where our priorities should lay, which is more than I can say for the current administration. It's only a matter of time before the all the skeletons start coming out of the closet. So, what is it I have to do to earn favors from the powers that be?
