Re: Anybody else listening to W?
"Exactly how long do you think it takes to arm todays modern armed forces? Clinton descimated the armed forces with his contempt and neglect. So deeply, the armed forces began canibalizing equipment just to keep some of it running. Now we are to believe that W planned this war years before. Please can we stop throwing around such baseless accusations. There is no proof to this anywhere outside the whacko conspiracy theoists. But if that is your source what can we do?"<br /><br />See the Project for a New American Century. Hardly the work of whacko bush haters. It is silly and self-deceptive to think that war with Iraq was never even on the radar screen until after 9/11. As far as how long it takes to get ready, I don't know the details of WWII history as well as some, but i get the distinct impression that once we were in it, production of vital supplies was ramped up extremely quickly. Certainly we could have done something similar here. Except that the message from W and his pals wasn't one of "let's start sacrificing and ramping up wartime supply production". No, the message was "Keep shopping and refinancing your homes to pay for it. We can fight this war with no financial burden on ordinary Americans." <br /><br />No, I simply won't accept silly and dead-horse-beating assertions that we went to war in Iraq ill-equipped and poorly prepared because of Clinton. Even if the military was in a shambles when W took over, there were over 18 months between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, and I for one believe that this administration had the intention of invading Iraq on every single day since 9/11 and well before. We went in the way we did because the members of this administration, specifically Rumsfeld et al, planned it that way. And what about the almost three years we've been over there? Or the untold BILLIONS that have been poured into the military since we started? At this point in the game it really does seem extremely disingenuous to say, "It's all Clinton's fault!" <br /><br />Come on guys! When does that conservative responsibility-taking begin? These guys planned and hoped for a quick easy war with a rosy outcome and they thought they could do it on the cheap. There are several now-deposed military officials who opposed that theory on the grounds that it was unrealistic, and it turns out they were correct. No, this is definitely W's war, and any and all failures and successes should roost on his and his administration's shoulders. You don't get to claim the successes and blame the problems on someone who hasn't been in office for 6 years! <br /><br />As far as successes, yes, we toppled Saddam's regime and defeated and dispersed his army. But that success was acheived coming up on three years ago. Where are the big victories since? What are we doing except treading water? Are we hoping that we will eventually shoot all the bad guys and that's how we will win? This administration never really had an idea for what to do AFTER defeating the iraqi Army, and while you can rightly say that the left doesn't have any new ideas, I haven't heard anything new or useful coming from the administration either.<br /><br />BTW, there are still alot of underequipped soldiers over there, and body armor is apparently still be a big problem. I really loved that heartwarming story about the Pentagon sending a wounded soldier a BILL for his destroyed body armor. That's classy, don't you think? What a great way to say "thanks for your sacrifice." That one came from the front page at AOL the other day, hardly a bastion of liberal America-haters.
You may be right....I see those container ships cruise by daily on their way to the Port of Seattle full of Chinese carp destined for WallyWorld shelves 
