In all this thread so far, I continue to read about how horrible of a job Bush has done, and he should be impeached, etc. But there are two things that I still have trouble with here. Again, as I have said before, anyone can be an armchair quarterback, looking BACK at things that have been done, and then complaining about the way it was done is easy. Who here is a member of the CIA? The FBI? Attorney General's office? So how do you know for a fact that the information Bush received was incorrect? You know this by what you have been TOLD by other people, whether by news, other offices, other cabinet members who are trying to cover THEIR asses. So who do we believe? I just can't blindly accept everything that is being said here. I don't agree with everything Bush has done, of course not. But in turn, I also do not sit here and blindly call him a murderer. War sucks, people die, history shows this. As far as I am concerned, they have no problem killing our civilians, so SCREW theirs!
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As for the military members: any military member that obeys an illegal order is a criminal.
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I think you are taking this a little out of context. You have to define an illegal order. You are an officer in command of a unit. You are ordered by YOUR superiors to attack a building that is housing "terrorists". You go attack it, because that is what you are ordered to do. Then later you find that the information was incorrect. Were you a criminal? OF COURSE NOT! You didn't know what intel was given, and as a unit leader, you follow orders, you don't do your own research. You don't ask your superiors to send YOU the intel to review it. You do what you are told. THAT is how it works. If every unit commander did their own checking, then nothing would EVER get done in time. When you are at war, sometimes you do not have the LUXURY of time to do a large amount of research on the intel.
Another example: Lets assume for this equasion that Ustwo (hehe...random pick...lol) is a knows terrorist. Now lets put him in a house in Miami on say the corner of First and Grand. Now Operative 1 sees him enter the house. He calls his boss, who notifies the CIA, and the CIA says "blow up the buiding". Recon 1 jumps into their jet, takes off, and bombs the house....Ustwo is inside, and is eliminated. Now what if we were to question the order? Recon 1 gets into their jet, and then says, MAYBE the information is wrong, so he calls back...Cia calls Operative 1's boss, who contacts Operative 1, who says, "You were too slow, he left, and I lost him"
This happens. It's not just a story. Sometimes we can't take the time to verify EVERYTHING. We decide to trust the intel, and act as fast as we can. SOMETIMES it turns out bad, other times it doesn't. It's the way war is.
I'm not saying that the current Administration is perfect, hell, show me one that is!
My other point is this, and it is more a question for everyone. If it were up to you, and you were in his place(Bush) what WOULD you do. Instead of rip him for his bad decisions, what would you do to FIX things? I am curious to hear everyone's ideas.