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Originally Posted by aceventura3
One key difference is that terrorist will attack us on our soil. perhaps we can reasonable disagree on the war strategy, i.e. invading Iraq as a part of the war on terror, but do we disagree on the issue of being at war with an enemy who has declared war on us. If we are at war and the war is real, what the significance of comparing this war with Vietnam.
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I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about Iraq, not the al Qaeda attacking on 9/11. I'm sure you know that Iraq and Saddam had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks on American soil. You can't get attacked by one enemy and blame it on all your enemies.
In Vietnam, at we had the Tonkin to blame. We didn't even fake an attack by Iraq.
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Originally Posted by aceventura3
What is the alternative in your mind? Are you willing to convert to a radical form of Islam?
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They aren't trying to convert me to Islam any more than you're trying to convert me to Christianity.
The alternative always has been the UN. It was the UN's resolutions they supposedly broke, so the UN is where the responsibility fell to correct the situation. If the security council had voted to invade or bomb, then that's what would have happened. Even now our best option is an international peacekeeping force replacing the US as we withdraw. Once the peacekeeping force is deployed, we can work as a part of the peacekeeping force so people don't think we're 'cutting and running'. It's okay to admit we're not invincible.
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Originally Posted by aceventura3
If you compare our military spending in this war as a percentage of GDP compared to past wars, you will see that we are not spending much on a relative basis.
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All that tells me is we've always been spending too much on war. Still, this is the most expensive war we've ever fought.
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Originally Posted by aceventura3
Here is where I agree. Chaney's point in the quote is that this war won't go away. So we will either get the will to win or it will continue.
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Here is where you disagree? I thought you were disagreeing with me above...
The thing is wars aren't won by will (the verb, not the proper noun). They are won by strategy and capability. We have neither the strategy nor the capability to win the war. Why do you think the word 'draft' keeps getting tossed around? We don't have the necessary manpower to reach or sustain peace in Iraq. Even if we started sending mall security and war reenactors over there, we'd still be undermanned. That's the reality of the situation. How is that 10,000 man surge doing?
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Originally Posted by aceventura3
Iraq is the global front on the war against terror. If terrorist secure Iraq, they will move to another target. Why don't people see that?
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There was no al Qaeda presence in Iraq before we invaded. Saddam hated them, specifically OBL. He wanted control over his own country and saw them as a serious threat. Iraq may have been a dangerous state (15 years ago), but there was no terrorist presence there.
Let me reitorate the most important point above: because we removed the Saddam government, al Qaeda was finally able to get into Iraq. We are supporting and enabling global terrorism. If the al Qaeda gains a serious foothold in Iraq, it will have been our fault.
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Originally Posted by aceventura3
True, Chaney is a behind the scenes guy. Also, true he is a politician and a businessman - he knows how to get results. Like I asked who is going to assume this role in a Democratic administration? Kucinich? Carter? Reed?
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Kucinich has the balls, but he doesn't have the popularity. None of the Dems have the capability to run the government, really. Neither does the GOP.
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Originally Posted by aceventura3
Bobby Kennedy?!? I thought he was dead. You supported what the Kennedy administration did with the Bay of Pigs? The whole Cuba crisis? They seemed to be pretty aggressive in those days, don't you agree? Didn't we get lucky that their game of chicken with the USSR didn't lead to nuclear war?
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I was speaking hypothetically, of course. I know he's dead. I wasn't alive for the Bay of Pigs or Cuba. I've read a lot about Bobby, and I believe it's leadership skills similar to his that would suit the oval office well right now.
Don't confuse Bobby with JFK, though. Bobby had his own ideas.