Your ‘better war’ is interesting in that it does not pertain to solely Iraq or even Iraq and Afghanistan.
Iraq is but one battle in a war that has been waged under different names by both the Democrats and Republicans for a long time. This is a conflict that has shaped our past and marches steadily onward to a desolate future. Rove didn't flinch, correcting the bold student. "First of all, it's the battle of Iraq, not the war." That means the war now called ‘terrorism’ will be longer than the Cold War.
The hawks have screeched into the ears of other presidents but none subscribed to the entire package until now.
What we have seen before is a partial embrace of the neocon vision by our recent past presidents. Even so dark a chapter as the war in Vietnam was unfinished and the remaining dominoes were left standing.
Only Bush, the least intelligent of the lot, is stupid enough to subscribe to the whole parcel. Iraq is just the beginning, as Kristol cheerily contended: "President Bush is committed, pretty far down the road. The logic of events says you can't go halfway. You can't liberate Iraq, then quit." #msg-975056
Would an intelligent president be so easily manipulated by the smart fellows with their fancy concepts and Ivy League degrees who surround him? Not to the extent that Bush has been taken over, intelligence precludes a total submission.
For an example consider Operation Northwoods, the plan put to President Kennedy by his military chiefs for a phoney terrorist campaign complete with bombings, hijackings, plane crashes and dead Americans – as justification for an invasion of Cuba. Kennedy rejected it. He was assassinated a few months later. Now Rumsfeld has resurrected Northwoods, but with resources undreamt of in 1963 and Bush is buying it. #msg-2101766
Also consider Hussein and Iraq had been on the scope of the neocon tentacles since the end of Gulf War I. They had unsuccessfully lobbied the Clinton Administration for a direct invasion of the beleaguered nation and with Bush they finally had a loyal puppet. With dilapidated, rusting and obsolete Soviet weaponry along with years of UN weapons inspections, combined with a decade of economic genocide that was UN sanctions, Saddam posed no substantial military threat in the region, much less to the US. Iraq was therefore an easy target of opportunity from which to launch the neocon vision of imperial supremacy. #msg-1942732
A takeover whether it be by drinking, religion or neoconservatives is the signature of a wanting intellect. The more intelligent a person the more likely they will think for themselves. However, what we are looking at is a matter of degree and when faced with a world war that is to last for decades that is not comforting yet it is there. Therefore at some point and this varies the intelligent leader should turn against the agenda.
Considering the above Bush is the worst thing that could have happened to the world. A smarter man should be a step in the right direction but how big a step remains to be seen. The key word is ‘should’.
The Republicans apparently agree with what I have put forth and are gearing questions to those which they feel Bush can answer.
The event allowed fervent Bush backers to ask the president questions. But in keeping with Bush's custom, most of the event was devoted to a speech by Bush and then to testimonials from people hand-picked by the White House extolling the virtues of his policies.
The queries put to Bush in the question-and-answer session were never hard-hitting, and were often not questions at all. Samples questions on Wednesday:
_ Can I take a picture with you?
_ Can I introduce you to my wife and mother in law?
Coal, a question for the scientist. Is it possible for the Chinese to manipulate a hurricane such as Charley? The Chinese are advanced in environmental warfare and Charley passed right over their listening post in Cuba. India seems to think the Chinese are up to something in their pursuit of ‘weather warfare’. Not only can they cause torrential rain they have also been diverting clouds and causing droughts.
I would think that the magnitude of their experiments is unknown to us.
Not saying they did but is it possible?
"The first rule of unrestricted warfare is that there are no rules, with nothing forbidden." The two PLA Air Force senior colonels who authored "Unrestricted Warfare", China’s Master Plan to Destroy America, see many new kinds of warfare emerging. These include trade war, financial war, terrorism in the future using new technologies, ecological warfare and news media power. http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:VL4mSpIRuvcJ:www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/doctrine/unresw2.htm+.... #msg-2380195
Tibet lake a weapon in China's hand?
Dr Jayaraman in New Delhi / August 14, 2004 14:53 IST
The threat of a lake burst in Tibet portending a catastrophic flood in Himachal Pradesh has exposed India's vulnerability to environmental warfare where nature's forces are manipulated to create deadly weapons, a senior defence official has said.
Indians do not know what is blocking the Pareechu river that has created the artificial lake, but China has said rocks from a natural landslide caused the blockage.
"This may very well be true, but whatever the cause, the lake burst offers China a test case to study the effect of this new kind of environmental weapon - a lake bomb," the defence scientist told PTI on condition of anonymity.
Denial of permission for Indians to visit the site, conflicting information from China about the lake parameters, and the Chinese warning to India a month after the supposed "landslide", heighten suspicion that the impending lake burst is being treated as an experiment, the scientist said. #msg-3806558
Man-made rain causes waves as China attempts to end droughts
Forced precipitation has brought regional charges of cloud theft August 19, 2004
LUOHE, China -- When rare clouds appear over this often-parched agricultural region of China, workers at the local weather bureau routinely roll out anti-aircraft guns and blast at the sky.
The shells that explode contain fine particles of silver iodide, which scatter through the moisture-laden clouds. If all goes well, a rainstorm occurs.
China is the world's leading cloud seeder, using an array of methods to disperse chemicals into cloud layers and coax more out of Mother Nature. It uses specialized aircraft, rockets, artillery shells, balloons and even mountaintop dispersing devices.
Near Haiti close to Santiago in the eastern end of Cuba the Chinese already operate one of two listening posts on the island. #msg-3253970
The very accurate forecasts in September 2003 for Hurricane Isabel's landfall in North Carolina may have set up some unrealistic expectations for forecasters trying to anticipate Hurricane Charley's path after it formed in the Caribbean Sea and crossed Cuba as a Category Two storm on August 12.
Rapid Intensification
Meteorologist Steve Lyons of the Weather Channel said all of the factors that aided Hurricane Charley's rapid intensification—including very warm water in the Gulf of Mexico and minimal upper-level winds (known as wind shear) that would have hindered its development—were in place soon after the sun came up on August 13.
The storm raced up the Saffir-Simpson scale as it moved parallel to the west coast of Florida. The scale rates hurricanes from Category One to Category Five according to their wind speeds and destructive potentialWhen a hurricane achieves winds of 111 miles an hour (178 kilometers an hour), it is classed as Category Three on the scale and is considered a major hurricane.
At 11 a.m. on August 13, Hurricane Charley was rated a Category Two, meaning that it had winds between 96 and 110 miles an hour (154 to 177 kilometers an hour). By 4 p.m. that same day, the winds around the storm's eye had reached 145 miles an hour (233 kilometers an hour), making it a Category Four storm.
Hurricane Charley may have made the jump from Category Three to Category Four in only one hour. "I suspect this isn't a record (for intensification), but it's certainly up there," Franklin said.
When a hurricane undergoes rapid strengthening—sometimes called bombing out—just before it makes landfall, it creates a worst-case scenario for forecasters and coastal emergency management officials. And once a hurricane begins bombing out, it can build up an unstoppable momentum. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0818_040818_hurricanes.html
Hurricane death toll rises to 20 as Florida digs out from monster storm
MIAMI (AFP) Aug 18, 2004 The death toll from Hurricane Charley rose to 20 on Wednesday as Florida state authorities delivered food and water to hundreds of thousands of people in southwest Florida affected by the monster storm, officials said.
The storm is estimated to have caused as much as 11 billion dollars in property damage. It is also expected to have a devastating impact on Florida's citrus industry, which contributes nine billion dollars a year to the state's economy.
Charley was the first major hurricane to strike Florida's southwest coast in over 40 years. More than two million people were advised to evacuate the strike zone, but many ignored the warnings. http://www.terradaily.com/2004/040818213414.9sdbwmzo.html
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