posted on July 27, 2004 08:24:22 PM new
This may or may not have been posted before. I just received it from a friend.
CAN YOU NAME THIS COUNTRY?
709,000 REGULAR (ACTIVE DUTY) PERSONNEL.
293,000 RESERVE TROOPS.
EIGHT STANDING ARMY DIVISIONS.
20 AIR FORCE AND NAVY AIR WINGS WITH 2,000 COMBAT AIRCRAFT.
232 STRATEGIC BOMBERS
19 STRATEGIC BALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINES WITH 3,114 NUCLEAR
WARHEADS ON 232 MISSILES.
500 ICBMs WITH 1,950 WARHEADS.
FOUR AIRCRAFT CARRIERS AND 121 SURFACE COMBAT SHIPS AND SUBMARINES
PLUS ALL THE SUPPORT BASES, SHIPYARDS, AND LOGISTICAL ASSETS NEEDED TO
SUSTAIN SUCH A NAVAL FORCE.
IS THIS COUNTRY :
RUSSIA ? NO
CHINA ? NO
GREAT BRITAIN ? NO
FRANCE ? WRONG AGAIN
MUST BE USA ? STILL WRONG (SORT OF)
GIVE UP ?
THESE ARE THE AMERICAN MILITARY FORCES THAT WERE ELIMINATED DURING THE ADMINISTRATION OF BILL CLINTON AND AL GORE.
SLEEP WELL!
Also, keep this in mind as the political pundits spew their anti-Bush
propaganda. There are several claims that our servicemen are deployed for
too long, and serving longer tours. This kind of talk is sure to continue as
the election looms closer. If we still had all these military personnel,
troops could be rotated more frequently.
posted on July 27, 2004 08:37:40 PM new
Australian Full Time armed ‘forces’ are approx 30,000 ‘strong’, and that includes all those behind a desk.
It doesn’t seem to have done us any more harm than has happened to you.
Perhaps military force is not the answer.
"Hitler also used the politics of fear in exactly the same way as it is being used by the American government today. He was able to convince everyone; the Germans, the British, the French and even the Americans, that the problem was Communism and the solution was him"
"http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Using_fear_as_a_political_tool"
[ edited by austbounty on Jul 27, 2004 08:43 PM ]
posted on July 27, 2004 10:53:52 PM new
Yes, colin....the cuts during the clinton administration have been brought up. They don't like to hear it....while at the same time complaining about how President Bush has been so unfair to our troops.
Sad they can't see why and how this happened.
-----------------------
and austbounty - While you haven't supported your country being in Iraq....your leaders have. Others find this an important war against these terrorists...and don't want to back down.
Sunday, July 25, 2004. 12:56pm (AEST)
Encouraging terrorists:
Mr Downer says Spain’s pullout after the Madrid bombing sent the wrong signal. (ABC)
Govt unswayed by 'Al Qaeda' threat
The Federal Government says it will not be swayed by threats from a group claiming to be the European arm of Al Qaeda, which has threatened Australia with attacks if its troops are not pulled out of Iraq.
A statement signed by "Islamic Tawhid Group, The Al Qaeda organisation, Europe" and posted on a website says it would attack with "columns of rigged cars" if the demand was not met.
"Australian people, if your Government refuses to withdraw and respond to us we will shake the ground beneath your feet as we did in Indonesia and columns of rigged cars will not stop," it said.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Channel 9 he has not heard of the group.
"This group, Islamic Tawhid Group, isn't a group that we're familiar with, but nevertheless it's a threat," he said.
"It's on the Internet, we take it seriously and what it does is, it reminds us that we have to be absolutely determined in the face of the threats of terrorists to make sure that we don't give in to those threats."
Australia has been a staunch supporter of the US-led coalition in Iraq, contributing 2,000 troops to last year's invasion and maintaining about 850 troops in and around Iraq.
The deployment became a key election issue after Opposition Leader Mark Latham pledged to bring the troops home by Christmas. The Government says it will remain in Iraq "until the job is done".
Mr Downer blames the withdrawal of Spanish and Filipino troops for encouraging the terrorists.
"Unfortunately these actions have encouraged terrorists to continue these threats, so now we are subjected, as the Italians are, and the Poles and the Bulgarians, from this particular group, to further threats, and it's very important we send a strong message that we will not be threatened by terrorist groups."
The group also threatened to attack Australian and Italian interests in Arab and Muslim countries.
"Our arms are long and we can reach whoever we want, whenever we want," it said.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"One thing is for sure: the extremists have faith in our weakness. And the weaker we are, the more they will come after us." --Tony Blair
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"The War on Terror will not be won until America is united. And as long as Democrats target the Bush administration -- not the terrorists -- as the enemy, we are in trouble." --Oliver North
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Those are only two reasons why we need to:
Re-elect President Bush!!
[ edited by Linda_K on Jul 27, 2004 10:57 PM ]
posted on July 28, 2004 01:45:59 AM new
FROM Arms Trade Newswire http://www.clw.org/atop/newswire/nw082001.html
August 20, 2001
"Global Arms Sales Rise Again, and the U.S. Leads the Pack"
NucNews - August 7, 2001
http://nucnews.net/nucnews/2001nn/0108nn/010807nn.htm#320
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said last Friday that Iraq has rebuilt its air defenses since U.S. and British warplanes attacked radar and communications targets around Baghdad on Feb. 16.
Rumsfeld offered no indication of whether or how the United States would respond, but he seemed to hint that any retaliation would go beyond the limited set of targets in the February raid.
``One tends to want to do things that will have somewhat more lasting effects,'' he told a Pentagon news conference.
posted on July 28, 2004 08:55:50 AM new
Why is it some people refuse to see the stupid crap Clinton did. Even though the facts are there,they go on about how great he is. I think Kerry would be another one like him.
posted on July 28, 2004 09:02:19 AM new
Looks like Bush Sr and Cheney did the same thing....
Furthermore, Bush's own father, who was then President, and Richard Cheney, who was then Secretary of Defense, proposed to cut or eliminate several of the very same weapons that Republicans now fault Kerry for opposing. In his first appearance before Congress as Defense Secretary in April 1989, for example, Cheney outlined $10 billion in defense cuts including proposed cancellation of the AH-64 Apache helicopter, and elimination of the F-15E ground-attack jet. Two years later Cheney's Pentagon budget also proposed elimination of further production of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and targeted a total of 81 Pentagon programs for termination, including the F-14 and F-16 aircraft. And the elder President Bush said in his 1992 State of the Union address: "After completing 20 planes for which we have begun procurement, we will shut down further production of the B - 2 bombers. . . . And we will not purchase any more advanced cruise missiles." So if Kerry opposed weapons "our troops depend on," so did Cheney and the elder President Bush.
The intelligence committee found massive duplication and waste in the Pentagon's intelligence programs particularly, noting separate intelligence arms with their own "separate buildings, separate security, separate communications, separate support services" at every echelon, including the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Army, Navy, Air Force and even regional commanders around the globe.
And the same year Kerry voted to cut intelligence funds, 1994, a bipartisan commission was formed to assess the state of US intelligence efforts. It concluded two years later that cuts in intelligence spending were inevitable and might be made without endangering national security. In 1996 the 17-member Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the United States Intelligence Community (also called the Aspin Commission) found that, despite cuts already made to that time, intelligence spending was still 80% higher than it had been in 1980 even including adjustments for inflation. By comparison, other defense spending had decreased 4%. To be sure, the commission didn’t recommend any more cuts in intelligence spending, but it acknowledged that balancing the federal budget would probably require that cuts be made:
Among the Republican commissioners who unanimously approved that language were Paul Wolfowitz, who is currently Bush's Deputy Secretary of Defense, and Sen. John Warner, now chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
Also worth noting is that after Kerry's proposal to cut intelligence spending by $1 billion a year failed, a Republican-sponsored cut sailed through easily. In 1995 Republican Senator Arlen Specter proposed to cut $1 billion from the super-secret National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) for fiscal year 1996. That cut was considered so uncontroversial that it passed by a voice vote
posted on July 28, 2004 12:08:25 PM newTHESE ARE THE AMERICAN MILITARY FORCES THAT WERE ELIMINATED DURING THE ADMINISTRATION OF BILL CLINTON AND AL GORE.
And we had a Republican majority Congress too.
But it makes no difference what size the military is when you have a deserter retard for commander-in-chief.
The problems we face with terrorism will not be solved with the military. Our military is designed to win conventional battles, not fight terrorism.
You would have to be blind to suggest we have won any victories in the battle against al Qaeda.
al Qaeda still exists, is still finctioning, and we slip further into a police state.
Sending more troops into Iraq will do nothing in the war on terrorism.
