idrankwhat

Now what is it that the CIA does again?

So which is it? Burma, Myanmar or "formerly known as Burma"? They all seem to get equal time.

....and a weakened military, inflation, hoarding, trade defict, looted treasury, self pollution, military spending, political corruption.......

What difference do you think Iraqis see when they look at armed Americans in Iraq? Do they make the distinction between the Military and the contractors or do you think they see members of the occupying force?

All of this crying about not learning from past mistakes. Apparently, some of us haven't learned anything from the policy of appeasment, pre WW2. And others can't seem to remember what happened to the Roman Empire.

I've been waiting for someone to provide a counter argument for Iran's statement. And sadly, I'm still waiting. It's going to take decades to undo the damage that has been done to our credibility over the last few years.

Agreed, that is the official task. But when you see them shooting first 80% of the time it might appear to be offensive, by both definitions of that term.

I agree that we need to find a good way out of this mess and to learn from past mistakes. But you start by holding those responsible accountable. Fortunately many of them have left the administration already but they've basically been allowed to wash their hands of the fiasco that they created. There are still a few left who are still calling the shots, even though all of their past decisions have led to failure. Fire them. Provide some sort of formal punishment. And then move on. Getting out of this mess includes restoring favorable relations with our allies and the US image that this administration has severely tarnished. Accountability for our mistakes would do a long way towards that end.

I thought it was pretty good. I understand what you're saying but I don't think it's honest to ignore the larger picture and narrow the focus.

Sorry, my mistake. I actually thought you were just letting a little passive aggressiveness seep out. I guess I'll just have to ignore you, even when you make sense. You comparing yourself to a hooker?

Thanks for helping to make my point!

I steal your car and drive it into a pond. If I pull it back out and return it to you with a new paint job and some spinner rims, are you going to compliment me for a job well done?

Very little media coverage. Surely you aren't surprised. Look at the comments on this thread when the Surge was being bashed and look at them now that there's an indication the Surge is working. **chirp..chirp** . . Sorry, heard it yesterday on NPR. Good numbers are always good to hear because that hopefully means that fewer people are dying. But please, tell me what "working" means. Tell me what "winning" and "success" mean. As far as I can tell the notion of "success" and "winning" means to return Iraq to an only slightly worse situation than it was in before we invaded.

I corrected it to "contractors". You can tell me how many have guns if you wish. That actually would be interesting to know.

So you think all Contractors in Iraq are hired guns? Some literally, some figuratively. Regardless, it's still the privatization of nation building. And when you do that, besides the problems listed in the article I linked earlier, I think that you end up with "market forces" having too much influence on our foreign policy. "Whoo Hoo, another four years" to quote one contractor.

WOW 160,000 mercs? I would have never guessed that. Oh lordy lordy! I said "hired guns" instead of "contractors"! Better fix that fast before NC hijacks the thread away from the issue so we can do some myopic semantic gymnastics

Nice post nerdgirl. Lots of good questions and observations here. I hadn't thought about the fact that the Iraqis were not likely to discern much difference between the troops and the mercenaries. That's significant considering that the number of hired guns is at least equal to the number of troops currently in the country. Personally, I don't like this situation. I see too many problems with it. As you pointed out, the American troops aren't paid nearly as well as the contractors for doing the same job and I'd imagine that doesn't help soldiers' morale much. Also, the contractors seem to be able to function in this legal nether region that makes them accountable to no one. Because of that you have situations such as Blackwater/Fallujah ordeal. I don't know if it's been settled yet but the idea of a contractor suing the families of the dead contractors for $10 million in order to keep them quiet just doesn't seem right in my book. It also doesn't look help out the US image. Take the following headline for example. Interesting article. too. http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1724225.0.0.php

Yea, they learned, at least in Texas, that it's "one finger, one vote". Check this out. Sad. http://www.youtube.com//watch?v=eG6X-xtVask

Well his name is "Kauffman". What did he expect? Good thing the cop didn't pull over "Mr. Schitzman".

Pretty much what he said. Staying where they were and going after them instead of pulling the resources to go where they weren't.

Agreed, and an irrelevant factor when discussing my posts. Correct, but your definition of defense is the same one being used to justify the Iraq war, or more accurately, the Indian removal efforts of the US government. What is going on in the West Bank and Gaza goes way beyond anything that could be called "defense". Who is supporting a "rabid antisemitic crowd"? Pointing out human rights abuse against non-combatants, war crimes, and how Israeli policy actually hinders the peace process is not supporting antisemitism unless you look at it from the binary viewpoint of a Hannity/O'Reilly mentality.

I've heard that "deficits don't matter". I mean what's $800,000 in the grand scheme of things. It only amounts to less than six minutes worth of war in Iraq

What "true reasons" are you referring to Jeanne? Isn't it possible that some of us who criticize Israel actually honestly tell you and show you where the criticism stems from? Yes, very bad things have happened to Jews in the past, and that's an understatement. But crying "antisemitism" whenever someone points out Israel's crimes is a very dishonest way to argue a point. It's really no different than when Dubya invokes 9/11 every time he wants to justify his own crimes.

We burn that much in two months just paying the interest. Because the current leadership believes that spending that money as an investment in its citizens is "socialism" but if we throw it at the military industrial complex then it's simply a prime example of free market capitalism.

... many would say that these lands were liberated and not occupied ...... Where have I heard that sort of talk before? Sorry for being so short but I really don't want to start This thread again.