[lit-ideas] Re: Sustaining our Resolve
- From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 15:47:12 -0400
----- Original Message -----
From: Lawrence Helm
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 8/19/2006 2:31:10 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Sustaining our Resolve
Must I tell you again, Irene? How many times must I repeat myself? But
perhaps I explained what we have accomplished in Iraq in a long note -- mea
culpa. I'll do this one up front and make the note as short as possible.
Some of the things we accomplished:
1) We removed a Militant Islamic enemy, one who harbored terrorists, one
who practiced his pan-Arabism by invading one of our allies, one who desired,
acquired and used WMDs, and one who has supported terrorist activities.
A.A. We removed a tin pot dictator who had no weapons. What terrorists did he
support? Evidence, please.
2) We enhanced our posture vis a vis the war on terror by showing certain
nations, especially Saudi Arabia that we were more formidable than Saddam
Hussein who claimed victory (and was believed in the Middle East) after the
first gulf war
A.A. We showed them, all right. What we showed them is they can bog us down
any time they want, for decades even.
3) We held Saddam to account for the UN violations -- justifiably
ignoring the stone-walling of France and Russia we now know were in cahoots
with Saddam. They had promised to stop the US in the Security Council. France
& Russia were the chief beneficiaries in the Oil for Food UN Scandal and made
promises to Saddam they couldn't keep.
A.A. We held ourselves above the U.N. and did what we damn well pleased. We
flouted international opinion and lied to the U.N. and to the American people.
4) We showed other Militant Islamic nations that we meant what we said
about going after our Militant Islamic enemies. Pakistan had already agreed to
cooperate as a result of our resolution in Afghanistan. Lebanon declared that
we had rescued them from Syrian domination by our actions in Iraq. Qhadaffi in
Libya decided to relinquish his nuclear weapons.
A.A. In your dreams all of this is happening. Qhadaffi relinquished in the
late 80's. Shiites were demonstrating by the thousands in Baghdad against the
U.S. and Israel, so cowed they are. The governments of Saudi Arabia and Egypt
are back peddling on siding with Americans. In every conceivable way we are
far, far worse off than before 9/11, except in your fantasies.
5) We removed most of the bases that Al Quaeda might use for staging
operations: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and north Lebanon were gone to them.
South Lebanon is now in jeopardy as is much of Pakistan. Our actions in
Afghanistan and Iraq were extremely effective in combating Al Quaeda.
A.A. And moved them straight to Iraq, where they are at home among the Sunnis,
and the Americans are irrelevant. Afghanistan is totally lawless and is the
world's biggest opium producer, so fearful are they of the U.S.
6) Al Qaeda?s commitment to fighting us in Iraq permits us to reduce
their numbers directly.
A.A. Then what was the recently foiled plot all about?
7) We have succeeded in setting up a Democratic government in Iraq that
has had elections and been confirmed.
A.A. Iraq doesn't exist anymore. The Kurds are off on their own, the Sunni and
Shiites are in a hate fest with each other and the Americans are hated by both.
The Democratic elections were basically a survey of how many of each sector
there are there. There isn't even anything that resembles a democracy. There
is civil war.
8) We have developed and trained the Iraqi Army such that it can handle
external threats and internal threats of any foreseeable size.
A.A. The Iraqi Army is a joke. Without direct and constant American
supervision, the Iraqi Army plays out the same civil hatred that the rest of
the country is doing.
9) We are working on developing the Iraqi police such that they can
handle internal criminal matters.
A.A. The country is in total chaos. The Iraqi police is a joke. They're so
infiltrated that the Americans had to design uniforms that were less easily
copied by the insurgents. They're a joke.
10) We have done all this with a casualty count much lower than virtually any
major war we've ever been involved in.
A.A. With a casualty count of about 3,000+ Iraqis a month, but they don't
count. Did it ever occur to you that maybe that's why the Americans are so
hated? Because we're so superior to all those nonentities who lives don't even
enter our body counts?
Your articles are anti-American and pro-Islamic. Now there?s nothing wrong
with that.
A.A. And you are in total denial that there is anything there besides a growing
paradise. There's nothing wrong with that.
They as well as your many notes simply mean you have chosen the side you wish
to support. We don't have laws punishing treason in the US anymore so I guess
you are home free. You side with Militant Islam and I side with America -- no
big deal.
A.A. If fantasy is the best you can do, then you have no choice but to accuse
me anti-Americanism. That's no big deal either.
If my answers don't meet your anti-American, pro-Islamist criteria, however:
tough.
A.A. Fantasy based politics are tough indeed.
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