Tsunami must be fault of the US

[BigBadBrian]

Gerard Baker: Tsunami must be fault of the US

December 31, 2004

INEVITABLY, confronted with a tragedy of unimaginable scale, the human mind looks for someone to blame. In the Dark Ages, disasters were ascribed to the wrath of God. Now, in an odd inversion that we like to think of as progress, they are adduced as evidence of no God.

In the absence of a deity to decry or appease when the earth moves in such devastating fashion, humankind reaches for the next best thing - worldly authority. Authority should have known it was coming. Authority didn't do enough to prevent it. Authority was too preoccupied with its own nefarious priorities to care.

There is plenty of authority to blame for the devastation caused by the Sumatran earthquake this week. Governments in Bangkok, Jakarta and Colombo will shoulder some of it. Governments farther afield will be inculpated for the poverty of their response. Media organisations will be attacked for being too callous and too mawkish. Unsurprisingly, perhaps the most inviting target is the US.

In the past three days I have been impressed by the originality of the latest critiques of the evil Americans. The earthquake and tsunami apparently had something to do with global warming, environmentalists say, caused of course by greedy American motorists. Then there was the rumour that the US military base at Diego Garcia was forewarned of the impending disaster and presumably because of some CIA-approved plot to undermine Islamic movements in Indonesia and Thailand did nothing about it.

To be fair, even the most animated America-hater, though, baulks at the idea of blaming George W. Bush for the destruction and death in southern Asia. But the US is blamed for not responding generously enough to help the victims of the catastrophe. A UN official this week derided Washington's contribution as stingy.

It is a label that fits the general image abroad of greedy, self-absorbed Americans. They neither know nor care much about the woes of the rest of the world, do they? Did the tsunami even get a look-in on US TV news between the holiday schmalz and the football games, I have been sneeringly asked once or twice this week by contemptuous British friends.

The answer is yes, it did. News coverage of the event has been extensive, and for the most part intelligent and mercifully free of the sort of parochialism about holidaymakers that characterises so much of the European press accounts. There have been some lapses -- the New York newspaper that carried on its front page the Manhattan supermodel's harrowing tale of survival as her boyfriend was swept away by a tidal wave. There has perhaps been a little too much "what if it happened here?" alarmist self-absorption.

But for the most part Americans have watched a sobering, heartbreaking tale of unimagined calamity unfold halfway across the world. You get a sense of the heterogeneity of this country when something such as this happens. Every newspaper in every big city has been carrying stories about local Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Thai and Malaysian communities traumatised by the long-distance search for relatives and friends.

Further, in financial terms, it is not at all clear that the US is shirking its responsibilities, pledging an initial $US35 million ($45.1million) in aid, with the prospect of much more to come, and offering military assistance. You can be sure that the private US response will be even more impressive. Don't misunderstand me. I am not suggesting that Americans are any more generous than anyone else -- simply that they, too, are moved to mercy by the plight of others.

But even as we seek to apportion blame when catastrophe strikes, we are gripped too by a kind of fatalism. We stand in awe of nature and feel helpless before its apparently insuperable power. The rising death toll in Southeast Asia seems to mock our pretensions to progress. We may have been to the moon, eradicated smallpox and created eBay, we think, but when the tectonic plates move we are no more secure than were the barefoot citizens of Pompeii.

Yet the truth is not so grim. For centuries, steady progress has been made in the struggle to limit the effects of natural disasters. Last year, an earthquake that measured 6.6 on the Richter scale killed more than 40,000 people in the Iranian city of Bam. In 1989, a more powerful earthquake struck outside San Francisco. The death toll was fewer than 100. Of course there were demographic and geologic differences that contributed to the disparity. Of course there will never be a fail-safe protection against the most destructive efforts of nature. But it is within our reach to build systems that can mitigate their effects.

Years of scientific effort and technological investment have given the world seismic sensors; early warning systems; buildings that can bounce up and down on stilts buried deep in the earth; flood barriers and other techniques. We can discern the outlines of a strategy for preventing, or at least limiting future disasters.

As we contemplate nature's fearful capacity for destruction and our apparent helplessness, we should not forget the greater tragedy that is humankind's potential for self-destruction. It was humanity, not nature, that killed tens of millions in the wars and genocides of the 20th century. Even as we master techniques to protect us from the earth's violence, we perfect new, more effective means of delivering our own.

The Times

[fanofdave]

just a quick question;

how much relief aid has osama bin laden
and zaqawi offered to date?

[Wayne L.]

Blaming President Bush for the tsunami from all these other foreign countries & their leaders along with the usual far left liberal America haters is why the U. S. should quit the U. N. because it's a farce.

[DrMaddVibe]

IT'S ABOUT THE TRAGEDY - NOT MORE BUSH-BASHING

By JOHN PODHORETZ
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 31, 2004 --

THE political and ideological exploitation of perhaps the worst natural disaster in all our lifetimes is almost beyond belief — were it not for the fact that nothing these days is beyond belief.

Even as tears spring into the most hard-hearted person's eyes at both the unimaginable scope of the tragedy and at the wrenching individual stories of loss, opinion leaders just can't help themselves.

They are using this cataclysm as little more than cheap debate fodder about the nature and character of the United States, its president and its citizens.

Don't misunderstand.

It is fine and proper to have a debate and discussion about the degree of generosity the United States could, should and must show in the wake of this literally earth-shaking event.

But at this moment, the United States is not the issue.

The foreign-aid budget of the United States is not the issue.

Our government should not be the focal point of the discussion right now.



Don't we owe the dead, dying and injured the minimal grace not to convert their suffering into a chat-show segment — the latest left-right clash over the Bush presidency?

And couldn't the editorialists at The New York Times have forborne — even just for a week — making use of the tsunami to complain about U.S. government spending on "development aid"?

Development aid is the blanket term for American grant money handed out to other countries, supposedly to help their economies grow. Development aid has nothing — nothing — to do with what has happened.

The aid at issue now is disaster relief.

Secretary of State Colin Powell found himself in the position of having to remind the world that over the past four years the United States has provided more such aid than all other nations on the planet combined.

It is appalling that he had to mention this, and that President Bush was compelled to cite the same information on Wednesday, because you're not supposed to brag about how charitable you are. But once a United Nations official decried the American aid pledge as "stingy," the administration had little choice.


Any rational person would have understood without having to be told what the president told the world on Wednesday morning, which is that the $35 million pledge "is only the beginning of our help."

But maybe people are looking for a sideshow to distract them from the sickening pictures and the keening cries of the untold numbers of mothers whose babies were swept away.

[Nickdfresh]

http://www.cdp181.demon.co.uk/images/spam.jpg

[BigBadBrian]

It figures. Nick can't figure things out logically if he tried. :o

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by Wayne L.
Blaming President Bush for the tsunami from all these other foreign countries & their leaders along with the usual far left liberal America haters is why the U. S. should quit the U. N. because it's a farce.

Your constant posting of idiotic run-on sentences is nothing when compared to their content.

WE SHOULD LEAVE THE UN BECAUSE PEOPLE BASH BUSH?

And please post a link that BLAMES BUSH for the tsunami.

You're a fucking moron

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
Your constant posting of idiotic run-on sentences is nothing when compared to their content.

WE SHOULD LEAVE THE UN BECAUSE PEOPLE BASH BUSH?

And please post a link that BLAMES BUSH for the tsunami.

You're a fucking moron

This is interesting. One guy wishes to debate. One guy just wishes to just piss the other guy off. Let's see how long it takes the liberal to realize the game. :gulp:

[ELVIS]

I'm confused...

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by Wayne L.
Blaming President Bush for the tsunami from all these other foreign countries & their leaders along with the usual far left liberal America haters is why the U. S. should quit the U. N. because it's a farce.

If THIS is considered debate to you, I'll stick to bashing sheep.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
It figures. Nick can't figure things out logically if he tried. :o

Coming from a man who loves to post animated cans of SPAM whenever he 'no like' topic, that means a lot!

BigBagBrian logic=Less is more, Black is white etc.

[FORD]

Assvibe, please do not post PNAC war criminal propaganda in this forum.

Podoretz and the rest of those shitheads belong on death row, not in this forum.

[DrMaddVibe]

What's your point? You're here!

DICKHEAD!


Don't forget...Dean likes it when you're grumpy!

[FORD]

My point is that these lying treasonous neocon shitbags have been actively working against the best interests of the American people for decades and we don't need their propoganda repeated here. You want to post right wing shit, fine, but we have to draw the line at PNAC'ers.

[DrMaddVibe]

Don't speak with your mouth full.


Smile Biaatch!

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by FORD
My point is that these lying treasonous neocon shitbags have been actively working against the best interests of the American people for decades and we don't need their propoganda repeated here. You want to post right wing shit, fine, but we have to draw the line at PNAC'ers.

Even though I don't agree with their line I'm going to start posting stuff directly from the PNAC website.....just to piss you off...and because I can. ;)

[BigBadBrian]

From the Website:


The Project for the New American Century is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to a few fundamental propositions: that American leadership is good both for America and for the world; that such leadership requires military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle; and that too few political leaders today are making the case for global leadership.

The Project for the New American Century intends, through issue briefs, research papers, advocacy journalism, conferences, and seminars, to explain what American world leadership entails. It will also strive to rally support for a vigorous and principled policy of American international involvement and to stimulate useful public debate on foreign and defense policy and America's role in the world.

[DEMON CUNT]

Why do conservatives allow themselves to be distracted by these retarded OP-ED columns? More evidence of their complete denial!

[LoungeMachine]

Oh, according to B3, he's NOT a Con

He's a moderate Independent.


Who just happens to believe God's plan was to thin the herd by killing tens of thousands of children.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
Oh, according to B3, he's NOT a Con

He's a moderate Independent.


Who just happens to believe God's plan was to thin the herd by killing tens of thousands of children.

An he goes to "what the media calls a Christian fundamentalist church." He gave all his money there, so he can't help the little Indonesians, Indians, or Sri Lankans.

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
Oh, according to B3, he's NOT a Con

He's a moderate Independent.


Who just happens to believe God's plan was to thin the herd by killing tens of thousands of children.


Wise up.

You need to learn when people are fucking with your head and saying things on this board JUST TO PISS YOU OFF. Maybe not you specifically, but I knew it would make someone's skin crawl and that is why I said it. You bit the hook and swallowed hard. It's fun to know a little Christian religion makes you squirm. I'll tuck that away for future reference for more "fun." ;)

Just like Phil says shit to piss others off.

Besides, natural disasters are inevitable. It's in the Bible. ;)

[LoungeMachine]

Guess that will always be a convenient "out" for you.

" I was just pushing your buttons, LM"


BigBlindBrian = Winner of the Army's 2004 BACKPEDDLER OF THE YEAR AWARD.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Wise up.

You need to learn when people are fucking with your head and saying things on this board JUST TO PISS YOU OFF. Maybe not you specifically, but I knew it would make someone's skin crawl and that is why I said it. You bit the hook and swallowed hard. It's fun to know a little Christian religion makes you squirm. I'll tuck that away for future reference for more "fun." ;)

Just like Phil says shit to piss others off.

Besides, natural disasters are inevitable. It's in the Bible. ;)

FLIPFLOPPER

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
FLIPFLOPPER

Call me a "Kerry" while you're at it. :gulp:

[DrMaddVibe]

.

[LoungeMachine]

Now that's funny.

Excellent Vibe.


I've been waiting for the spitball cannon as well

[Nickdfresh]

Wow. A Kerry/Edwards humor pic. And only Two months after the election.

Well, this one wasn't photoshopped:

[DrMaddVibe]

'Mission Accomplished' Whodunit

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2003
"The 'Mission Accomplished' sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished." President Bush



(CBS/AP) Six months after he spoke on an aircraft carrier deck under a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished," President Bush disavowed any connection with the war message. Later, the White House changed its story and said there was a link.

The "Mission Accomplished" boast has been mocked many times since Mr. Bush's carrier speech as criticism has mounted over the failed search for weapons of mass destruction and the continuing violence in Iraq.

When it was brought up again Tuesday at a news conference, Mr. Bush said, "The 'Mission Accomplished' sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished."

"I know it was attributed somehow to some ingenious advance man from my staff — they weren't that ingenious, by the way."

That explanation hadn't surfaced during months of questions to White House officials about proclaiming the mission in Iraq successful while violence continued.

After the news conference, a White House spokeswoman said the Lincoln's crew asked the White House to have the sign made. The White House asked a private vendor to produce the sign, and the crew put it up, said the spokeswoman. She said she did not know who paid for the sign.

Later, a Pentagon spokesman called The Associated Press to reiterate that the banner was the crew's idea.

"It truly did signify a mission accomplished for the crew," Navy Cmdr. Conrad Chun said, adding the president's visit marked the end of the ship's 10-month international deployment.

The president's appearance on the Abraham Lincoln, which was returning home after service in the Persian Gulf, included his dramatic and much-publicized landing on the ship's deck.

Mr. Bush's disavowal Tuesday brought new criticism from at least three of the Democrats seeking their party's nomination to run against the president — John Kerry, Wesley Clark and Joe Lieberman.

"Today was another banner day in George Bush's quest to bring honor and integrity to the White House," Lieberman said. "If he wanted to prove he has trouble leveling with the American people, mission accomplished."

Since Mr. Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq on May 1, 115 U.S. soldiers have been killed by hostile fire — more than died in combat before the speech.

In his Rose Garden press conference, Mr. Bush told the reporter who asked about the sign: "I think you ought to look at my speech. I said, Iraq is a dangerous place and we've still got hard work to do, there's still more to be done. And we had just come off a very successful military operation. I was there to thank the troops."

The president said his statement "was a clear statement, basically recognizing that this phase of the war for Iraq was over and there was a lot of dangerous work. And it's proved to be right, it is dangerous in Iraq."

In the May 1 speech, Mr. Bush did note that the job in Iraq was not complete, promising "difficult work" in Iraq "bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous," he said.

Later he added: "The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done."

But Mr. Bush also sounded a triumphant note, describing the Iraqi operation as a "victory in a war on terror."

"In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed," he said. "And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country."

The president's USS Lincoln speech came under scrutiny almost immediately. Democrats claimed the White House wasted taxpayer dollars and sailors' time on a publicity stunt.

Despite initial claims that the ship was too far out to sea for a helicopter landing, forcing the president to use a jet, the Lincoln was actually within helicopter range when Mr. Bush arrived.

The jet flight was much more dramatic than a helicopter arrival would have been, as the president took the control stick for part of the flight and emerged on deck wearing a flight suit and helmet.

In addition, Pentagon officials told the Washington Post that after the president's speech, the Lincoln waited offshore for hours while he slept rather than heading into port after its 10-month voyage.

In the images of fallen statues we have witnessed the arrival of a new era. For a hundred of years of war, culminating in the nuclear age, military technology was designed and deployed to inflict casualties on an ever-growing scale.

In defeating Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, Allied forces destroyed entire cities, while enemy leaders who started the conflict were safe until the final days. Military power was used to end a regime by breaking a nation.

Today we have the greater power to free a nation by breaking a dangerous and aggressive regime.

With new tactics and precision weapons, we can achieve military objectives without directing violence against civilians.

No device of man can remove the tragedy from war, yet it is a great advance when the guilty have far more to fear from war than the innocent.

In the images of celebrating Iraqis we have also seen the ageless appeal of human freedom. Decades of lies and intimidation could not make the Iraqi people love their oppressors or desire their own enslavement.

Men and women in every culture need liberty like they need food and water and air. Everywhere that freedom arrives, humanity rejoices and everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear.

We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We're bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We're pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime who will be held to account for their crimes. We've begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons, and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated.

We are helping to rebuild Iraq where the dictator built palaces for himself instead of hospitals and schools.

And we will stand with the new leaders of Iraq as they establish a government of, by and for the Iraqi people.

The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done and then we will leave and we will leave behind a free Iraq.

The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11th, 2001 and still goes on.

That terrible morning, 19 evil men, the shock troops of a hateful ideology, gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that September the 11th would be the beginning of the end of America.

By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy this nation's resolve and force our retreat from the world.

They have failed.

In the battle of Afghanistan, we destroyed the Taliban, many terrorists and the camps where they trained. We continue to help the Afghan people lay roads, restore hospitals and educate all of their children.

Yet we also have dangerous work to complete. As I speak, a special operations task force lead by the 82nd Airborne is on the trail of the terrorists and those who seek to undermine the free government of Afghanistan.

America and our coalition will finish what we have begun.

From Pakistan to the Philippines to the Horn of Africa, we are hunting down Al Qaida killers.

Nineteen months ago I pledged that the terrorists would not escape the patient justice of the United States. And as of tonight nearly one half of Al Qaida's senior operatives have been captured or killed.

The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We have removed an ally of Al Qaida and cut off a source of terrorist funding.

And this much is certain: No terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime, because the regime is no more.

In these 19 months that changed the world, our actions have been focused and deliberate and proportionate to the offense. We have not forgotten the victims of September the 11th, the last phone calls, the cold murder of children, the searches in the rubble. With those attacks, the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States, and war is what they got.

Our war against terror is proceeding according to the principles that I have made clear to all.

Any person involved in committing or planning terrorist attacks against the American people becomes an enemy of this country and a target of American justice.

Any person, organization or government that supports, protects or harbors terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent and equally guilty of terrorist crimes. Any outlaw regime that has ties to terrorist groups and seeks or possesses weapons of mass destruction is a grave danger to the civilized world and will be confronted.

And anyone in the world, including the Arab world, who works and sacrifices for freedom has a loyal friend in the United States of America.

Our commitment to liberty is America's tradition, declared at our founding, affirmed in Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms, asserted in the Truman Doctrine and in Ronald Reagan's challenge to an evil empire.

We are committed to freedom in Afghanistan, Iraq and in a peaceful Palestine.

The advance of freedom is the surest strategy to undermine the appeal of terror in the world. Where freedom takes hold, hatred gives way to hope.

When freedom takes hold, men and women turn to the peaceful pursuit of a better life.

American values and American interests lead in the same direction. We stand for human liberty.

The United States upholds these principles of security and freedom in many ways: with all of the tools of diplomacy, law enforcement, intelligence and finance.

We are working with a broad coalition of nations that understand the threat and our shared responsibility to meet it.

The use of force has been and remains our last resort. Yet all can know, friend and foe alike, that our nation has a mission: We will answer threats to our security, and we will defend the peace.

Our mission continues. Al Qaida is wounded, not destroyed. The scattered cells of the terrorist network still operate in many nations and we know from daily intelligence that they continue to plot against free people. The proliferation of deadly weapons remains a serious danger.

The enemies of freedom are not idle, and neither are we. Our government has taken unprecedented measures to defend the homeland and we will continue to hunt down the enemy before he can strike.

The war on terror is not over, yet it is not endless. We do not know the day of final victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide.

No act of the terrorists will change our purpose, or weaken our resolve, or alter their fate. Their cause is lost; free nations will press on to victory.

Other nations in history have fought in foreign lands and remained to occupy and exploit. Americans, following a battle, want nothing more than to return home. And that is your direction tonight.

After service in the Afghan and Iraqi theaters of war, after 100,000 miles on the longest carrier deployment in recent history, you are homeward bound.

Some of you will see new family members for the first time; 150 babies were born while their fathers were on the Lincoln. Your families are proud of you, and your nation will welcome you.

We are mindful as well that some good men and women are not making the journey home. One of those who fell, Corporal Jason Mileo, spoke to his parents five days before his death. Jason's father said, "He called us from the center of Baghdad, not to brag but to tell us he loved us. Our son was a soldier."

Every name, every life is a loss to our military, to our nation and to the loved ones who grieve. There is no homecoming for these families. Yet we pray in God's time their reunion will come.

Those we lost were last seen on duty.

Their final act on this Earth was to fight a great evil and bring liberty to others.

All of you, all in this generation of our military, have taken up the highest calling of history: You were defending your country and protecting the innocent from harm.

And wherever you go, you carry a message of hope, a message that is ancient and ever new. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, "To the captives, come out; and to those in darkness, be free."

Thank you for serving our country and our cause.

May God bless you all. And may God continue to bless America.

[Nickdfresh]

"Blah blah blah...the crew put it up. Cover the RNC's ass...blah blah"...I've been over this crap with Lucky Wilbury. Whether they put it up or not, Bush still spoke in terms of "victory" over Iraq and the end in this battle in the war on terror...

I'll even find it for you.

[DEMON CUNT]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
'Mission Accomplished' Whodunit

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2003
"The 'Mission Accomplished' sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished." President Bush


That's it, blame the troops! What a flip flopper!

[Nickdfresh]

Fuck it I can't find it, but if you study the text of the speech, Bush does in fact tie the Iraqi War to a victory in the War on Terror and claims victory overall.

He he didn't feel that way, then he should have made them take it down. I also find that excuse reeking of plausible deniability!

[DrMaddVibe]

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.

In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty, and for the peace of the world. Our nation and our coalition are proud of this accomplishment -- yet, it is you, the members of the United States military, who achieved it. Your courage, your willingness to face danger for your country and for each other, made this day possible. Because of you, our nation is more secure. Because of you, the tyrant has fallen, and Iraq is free.

Operation Iraqi Freedom was carried out with a combination of precision and speed and boldness the enemy did not expect, and the world had not seen before. From distant bases or ships at sea, we sent planes and missiles that could destroy an enemy division, or strike a single bunker. Marines and soldiers charged to Baghdad across 350 miles of hostile ground, in one of the swiftest advances of heavy arms in history. You have shown the world the skill and the might of the American Armed Forces.

This nation thanks all the members of our coalition who joined in a noble cause. We thank the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland, who shared in the hardships of war. We thank all the citizens of Iraq who welcomed our troops and joined in the liberation of their own country. And tonight, I have a special word for Secretary Rumsfeld, for General Franks, and for all the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States: America is grateful for a job well done.

The character of our military through history -- the daring of Normandy, the fierce courage of Iwo Jima, the decency and idealism that turned enemies into allies -- is fully present in this generation. When Iraqi civilians looked into the faces of our servicemen and women, they saw strength and kindness and goodwill. When I look at the members of the United States military, I see the best of our country, and I'm honored to be your Commander-in-Chief.

In the images of falling statues, we have witnessed the arrival of a new era. For a hundred of years of war, culminating in the nuclear age, military technology was designed and deployed to inflict casualties on an ever-growing scale. In defeating Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, Allied forces destroyed entire cities, while enemy leaders who started the conflict were safe until the final days. Military power was used to end a regime by breaking a nation.

Today, we have the greater power to free a nation by breaking a dangerous and aggressive regime. With new tactics and precision weapons, we can achieve military objectives without directing violence against civilians. No device of man can remove the tragedy from war; yet it is a great moral advance when the guilty have far more to fear from war than the innocent.

In the images of celebrating Iraqis, we have also seen the ageless appeal of human freedom. Decades of lies and intimidation could not make the Iraqi people love their oppressors or desire their own enslavement. Men and women in every culture need liberty like they need food and water and air. Everywhere that freedom arrives, humanity rejoices; and everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear.

We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We're bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We're pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime, who will be held to account for their crimes. We've begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated. We're helping to rebuild Iraq, where the dictator built palaces for himself, instead of hospitals and schools. And we will stand with the new leaders of Iraq as they establish a government of, by, and for the Iraqi people.

The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done. Then we will leave, and we will leave behind a free Iraq.

The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes on. That terrible morning, 19 evil men -- the shock troops of a hateful ideology -- gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that September the 11th would be the "beginning of the end of America." By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy this nation's resolve, and force our retreat from the world. They have failed.

In the battle of Afghanistan, we destroyed the Taliban, many terrorists, and the camps where they trained. We continue to help the Afghan people lay roads, restore hospitals, and educate all of their children. Yet we also have dangerous work to complete. As I speak, a Special Operations task force, led by the 82nd Airborne, is on the trail of the terrorists and those who seek to undermine the free government of Afghanistan. America and our coalition will finish what we have begun.

From Pakistan to the Philippines to the Horn of Africa, we are hunting down al Qaeda killers. Nineteen months ago, I pledged that the terrorists would not escape the patient justice of the United States. And as of tonight, nearly one-half of al Qaeda's senior operatives have been captured or killed.

The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We've removed an ally of al Qaeda, and cut off a source of terrorist funding. And this much is certain: No terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime, because the regime is no more.

In these 19 months that changed the world, our actions have been focused and deliberate and proportionate to the offense. We have not forgotten the victims of September the 11th -- the last phone calls, the cold murder of children, the searches in the rubble. With those attacks, the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States. And war is what they got.

Our war against terror is proceeding according to principles that I have made clear to all: Any person involved in committing or planning terrorist attacks against the American people becomes an enemy of this country, and a target of American justice.

Any person, organization, or government that supports, protects, or harbors terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent, and equally guilty of terrorist crimes.

Any outlaw regime that has ties to terrorist groups and seeks or possesses weapons of mass destruction is a grave danger to the civilized world -- and will be confronted.

And anyone in the world, including the Arab world, who works and sacrifices for freedom has a loyal friend in the United States of America.

Our commitment to liberty is America's tradition -- declared at our founding; affirmed in Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms; asserted in the Truman Doctrine and in Ronald Reagan's challenge to an evil empire. We are committed to freedom in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and in a peaceful Palestine. The advance of freedom is the surest strategy to undermine the appeal of terror in the world. Where freedom takes hold, hatred gives way to hope. When freedom takes hold, men and women turn to the peaceful pursuit of a better life. American values and American interests lead in the same direction: We stand for human liberty.

The United States upholds these principles of security and freedom in many ways -- with all the tools of diplomacy, law enforcement, intelligence, and finance. We're working with a broad coalition of nations that understand the threat and our shared responsibility to meet it. The use of force has been -- and remains -- our last resort. Yet all can know, friend and foe alike, that our nation has a mission: We will answer threats to our security, and we will defend the peace.

Our mission continues. Al Qaeda is wounded, not destroyed. The scattered cells of the terrorist network still operate in many nations, and we know from daily intelligence that they continue to plot against free people. The proliferation of deadly weapons remains a serious danger. The enemies of freedom are not idle, and neither are we. Our government has taken unprecedented measures to defend the homeland. And we will continue to hunt down the enemy before he can strike.

The war on terror is not over; yet it is not endless. We do not know the day of final victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide. No act of the terrorists will change our purpose, or weaken our resolve, or alter their fate. Their cause is lost. Free nations will press on to victory.

Other nations in history have fought in foreign lands and remained to occupy and exploit. Americans, following a battle, want nothing more than to return home. And that is your direction tonight. After service in the Afghan -- and Iraqi theaters of war -- after 100,000 miles, on the longest carrier deployment in recent history, you are homeward bound. Some of you will see new family members for the first time -- 150 babies were born while their fathers were on the Lincoln. Your families are proud of you, and your nation will welcome you.

We are mindful, as well, that some good men and women are not making the journey home. One of those who fell, Corporal Jason Mileo, spoke to his parents five days before his death. Jason's father said, "He called us from the center of Baghdad, not to brag, but to tell us he loved us. Our son was a soldier."

Every name, every life is a loss to our military, to our nation, and to the loved ones who grieve. There's no homecoming for these families. Yet we pray, in God's time, their reunion will come.

Those we lost were last seen on duty. Their final act on this Earth was to fight a great evil and bring liberty to others. All of you -- all in this generation of our military -- have taken up the highest calling of history. You're defending your country, and protecting the innocent from harm. And wherever you go, you carry a message of hope -- a message that is ancient and ever new. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, "To the captives, 'come out,' -- and to those in darkness, 'be free.'"

Thank you for serving our country and our cause. May God bless you all, and may God continue to bless America.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
THE PRESIDENT:

...Operation Iraqi Freedom was carried out with a combination of precision and speed and boldness the enemy did not expect, and the world had not seen before. From distant bases or ships at sea, we sent planes and missiles that could destroy an enemy division, or strike a single bunker. Marines and soldiers charged to Baghdad across 350 miles of hostile ground, in one of the swiftest advances of heavy arms in history. You have shown the world the skill and the might of the American Armed Forces.

Gee, what happened? "Mission Accomplished?"


...We thank the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland, who shared in the hardships of war....I have a special word for Secretary Rumsfeld, for General Franks, and for all the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States: America is grateful for a job well done.

Great job guys. Props for the "quagmire" thing!


In the images of falling statues, we have witnessed the arrival of a new era...Military power was used to end a regime by breaking a nation.

What era, the era of fighting an unsustainable guerilla war. I though that was in the 60's.


The Battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11th, 2001, (SMELLS LIKE BULLSHIT) and still goes on. That terrible morning, 19 evil men — the shock troops of a hateful ideology — gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions...

The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We've removed an ally of al Qaeda, and cut off a source of terrorist funding...

BULLSHIT! it is in these paragraphs, Bush likens this war as a great "VICTORY!" "Mission Accomplished," eh? He falsely, with evidence to the contrary, likens Saddam's government to al-Qaida. He's so full of shit, they blinded you boy!

[DrMaddVibe]

He NEVER said "mission accomplished" did he? That's his whole speech right there up above. Pissed you off it wasn't there huh?

Trying to pin this all on one person is laughable too. You've got the wrong person though. Saddam had ample opportunity to straighten it out, but decided he liked paying bribes and payoffs. Yey you doom and gloom savants want to pin this on Bush, no Rumsfield, no the BCE. You let me know when you've finally painted someone in a corner and I'm sure I'll be there to show you how wrong you are with facts.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
He NEVER said "mission accomplished" did he? That's his whole speech right there up above. Pissed you off it wasn't there huh?

Never said he did! It's called plausible deniablity. Told you I've been through this shit with the best (Lucky Wilbury). You can play semantics all you want, but in the end, Dubya can't pass the buck of responsibility to the ships crew. He okayed it by not ordering it down!


Trying to pin this all on one person is laughable too. You've got the wrong person though. Saddam had ample opportunity to straighten it out, but decided he liked paying bribes and payoffs. Yey you doom and gloom savants want to pin this on Bush, no Rumsfield, no the BCE. You let me know when you've finally painted someone in a corner and I'm sure I'll be there to show you how wrong you are with facts.

No, just that we won the war in Iraq already. And then mysteriously, as I recall, the story went from Bush's reelection team putting up the banner, to then a few misguided individuals on Dubya's staff putting it up, to finally the crew hailing their brilliant Commander and Chief. Funny how the story changed.

No matter what, it's still pretty clear he had NO CLUE of what Iraq was about to become. So upon further review, "Mission Accomplished" still stands.

I hate to tell you this, but a lot of people are being paid off in this war.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Gerard Baker: Tsunami must be fault of the US

December 31, 2004

INEVITABLY, confronted with a tragedy of unimaginable scale, the human mind looks for someone to blame. In the Dark Ages, disasters were ascribed to the wrath of God. Now, in an odd inversion that we like to think of as progress, they are adduced as evidence of no God.

In the absence of a deity to decry or appease when the earth moves in such devastating fashion, humankind reaches for the next best thing - worldly authority. Authority should have known it was coming. Authority didn't do enough to prevent it. Authority was too preoccupied with its own nefarious priorities to care.

There is plenty of authority to blame for the devastation caused by the Sumatran earthquake this week. Governments in Bangkok, Jakarta and Colombo will shoulder some of it. Governments farther afield will be inculpated for the poverty of their response. Media organisations will be attacked for being too callous and too mawkish. Unsurprisingly, perhaps the most inviting target is the US.

In the past three days I have been impressed by the originality of the latest critiques of the evil Americans. The earthquake and tsunami apparently had something to do with global warming, environmentalists say, caused of course by greedy American motorists. Then there was the rumour that the US military base at Diego Garcia was forewarned of the impending disaster and presumably because of some CIA-approved plot to undermine Islamic movements in Indonesia and Thailand did nothing about it.

To be fair, even the most animated America-hater, though, baulks at the idea of blaming George W. Bush for the destruction and death in southern Asia. But the US is blamed for not responding generously enough to help the victims of the catastrophe. A UN official this week derided Washington's contribution as stingy.

It is a label that fits the general image abroad of greedy, self-absorbed Americans. They neither know nor care much about the woes of the rest of the world, do they? Did the tsunami even get a look-in on US TV news between the holiday schmalz and the football games, I have been sneeringly asked once or twice this week by contemptuous British friends.

The answer is yes, it did. News coverage of the event has been extensive, and for the most part intelligent and mercifully free of the sort of parochialism about holidaymakers that characterises so much of the European press accounts. There have been some lapses -- the New York newspaper that carried on its front page the Manhattan supermodel's harrowing tale of survival as her boyfriend was swept away by a tidal wave. There has perhaps been a little too much "what if it happened here?" alarmist self-absorption.

But for the most part Americans have watched a sobering, heartbreaking tale of unimagined calamity unfold halfway across the world. You get a sense of the heterogeneity of this country when something such as this happens. Every newspaper in every big city has been carrying stories about local Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Thai and Malaysian communities traumatised by the long-distance search for relatives and friends.

Further, in financial terms, it is not at all clear that the US is shirking its responsibilities, pledging an initial $US35 million ($45.1million) in aid, with the prospect of much more to come, and offering military assistance. You can be sure that the private US response will be even more impressive. Don't misunderstand me. I am not suggesting that Americans are any more generous than anyone else -- simply that they, too, are moved to mercy by the plight of others.

But even as we seek to apportion blame when catastrophe strikes, we are gripped too by a kind of fatalism. We stand in awe of nature and feel helpless before its apparently insuperable power. The rising death toll in Southeast Asia seems to mock our pretensions to progress. We may have been to the moon, eradicated smallpox and created eBay, we think, but when the tectonic plates move we are no more secure than were the barefoot citizens of Pompeii.

Yet the truth is not so grim. For centuries, steady progress has been made in the struggle to limit the effects of natural disasters. Last year, an earthquake that measured 6.6 on the Richter scale killed more than 40,000 people in the Iranian city of Bam. In 1989, a more powerful earthquake struck outside San Francisco. The death toll was fewer than 100. Of course there were demographic and geologic differences that contributed to the disparity. Of course there will never be a fail-safe protection against the most destructive efforts of nature. But it is within our reach to build systems that can mitigate their effects.

Years of scientific effort and technological investment have given the world seismic sensors; early warning systems; buildings that can bounce up and down on stilts buried deep in the earth; flood barriers and other techniques. We can discern the outlines of a strategy for preventing, or at least limiting future disasters.

As we contemplate nature's fearful capacity for destruction and our apparent helplessness, we should not forget the greater tragedy that is humankind's potential for self-destruction. It was humanity, not nature, that killed tens of millions in the wars and genocides of the 20th century. Even as we master techniques to protect us from the earth's violence, we perfect new, more effective means of delivering our own.

The Times
---
Well... You know, we all, non-Americans, are conscious American people are our gods. But we've got to be formal: we refuse to go as far as believing they are responsible for natural catastrophes. The evidence is our spies found they just don't PRAY for them to happen.

Sorry, but this is part of the way Americans are seen from Europe - praying... because of squinting Bush!

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by Jérome from Fra
---

Sorry, but this is part of the way Americans are seen from Europe - praying... because of squinting Bush!

What is wrong with praying, Jerome?

What is wrong with a President who prays?

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
What is wrong with praying, Jerome?

What is wrong with a President who prays?

I don't have a problem with any national leader that talks to God. But I have a big problem with any national leader that believes God is talking back!

I can't speak for Jerome, but I believe that may be some of the Euro unease over Bush.

[ODShowtime]

they've had some problems with church and gov't getting too close you see

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by ODShowtime
they've had some problems with church and gov't getting too close you see

You mean that can result in wars, tyranny, and divisiveness? Who knew?:confused:

[John Ashcroft]

Originally posted by DEMON CUNT
Why do conservatives allow themselves to be distracted by these retarded OP-ED columns? More evidence of their complete denial!

Denial of what? I'm interested...

Denial of the fact that Conservatives run both houses of Congress and the Executive branch (not to mention the majority of Governorships and State Legislatures)????

Well if this is "denial", I'm gladly part of the denial club.

So you libs keep your heads in "reality" a bit longer, will ya? At this pace, before long Conservatives will hold super-majorities in both houses of Congress.

But hey, at least you can go to sleep at night knowing you're the only ones who've got it all figured out. I hope you continue to enjoy minority status.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
What is wrong with praying, Jerome?

What is wrong with a President who prays?

Nothing at all, B. B. Brian. I'm OK with anybody having any religion.
But, as Nickdfresh wrote, I don't feel at ease with such a president who mentions God every once in a while. He is meant to be every citizen's president, whether they like it or not. Yet, not every citizen either believes in God or has the same religion. And I'm not quite sure The American Constitution requires the White House tenant to refer to the Bible in almost all his sentences.

The basis of it all is he's constantly referring to his religion and linking it to the "truth". With just elements of philosophy, you soon realize there is none. Outside America, you feel lowered when you hear such a speech. Then, he talks about an "axis of evil", pointing at a mass of people who do not see the world as he does at all.
Well, real bastards happen to be part of the nations he condemns. But Bush doesn't even seem to conceive his narrow, tidy conceptions are not working for everybody on earth. He won't understand his convenient"truth" will only commit himself. Trouble is he committed several hundred million souls. When you watch news from the Middle East, for example, or North Africa, you see angry men yelling and messing; they often are because of foreigners interfering or having mingled with their business in a ill manner (lining their pockets). In those areas, time is different, minds are different, traditions are different, histories are different, religions are different... But they are our brothers, and we are theirs. George Jr, despite all the religion he's stuffed with, seems to have interpreted the Bible way too much!

Sure, Americans or Europeans sometimes land here or there for good purposes. But how many peoples have been left dying so far in Africa, above all? But Sudan, among others, is no neighbour of Bush's...

A lot of us over the Atlantic wonder if Bush is really filled up with religion up to that point - if he is, it's a caricature. If he's not, it's a kind of tool meant to hide shameful intentions. At all events, viewed from Old Europe where religion is not an official reference anymore (in 1905, a French law was enacted that separated Church and State. No president has ever mentioned any belief ever since, although most of them were Christians, including our current puppet, Chirac.

So, praying is not wrong: but I think praying should be a private activity, never melting with your job, especially when it implies public exposure. All the more so for a president.
But that's how it goes in America. I've only shown you disapproval, but I haven't referred to a lot of things that are great, like the impeachment option (there are many others). It's just different. The very thing that's wrong with Bush is he obviously aspires to rule the planet after his own beliefs.

I also stuggle hard against fools who dare criticizing the whole US and lumping all Americans together. So silly...
---
Long live America!

[ODShowtime]

Originally posted by Jérome from Fra

A lot of us over the Atlantic wonder if Bush is really filled up with religion up to that point - if he is, it's a caricature. If he's not, it's a kind of tool meant to hide shameful intentions.

well I can see someone was paying attention

[diamondD]

Nick, the ship's crew's current mission that they were assigned to was complete. You are just using that banner as a rallying point for your cause. That's why people come off as disinterested in that argument.